What is the legality of these chargers? I thought the magsafe adapter was patented and therefore 3rd parties can't built compatible plugs without a license.
If you got a fake one, report it to Customs and Border Protection, along with as much info as you have about the path by which it reached you. They seize and destroy crap like this regularly.[1] Call 1-866-999-HALT, or see "stopfakes.gov". Mention the forged UL symbol. Also report that to UL.[2] Their report form accepts pictures.
UL puts effort into power supplies. This has been a problem with desktop machines for years. Gamer sites which review power supplies note that UL-rated power supplies don't burn out or blow up. That's because UL tests them by loading them up to their specified output with a resistor bank and running them for a few days at 100% load. They also test the overload-shutdown features. There are many low-end desktop power supplies which will not deliver their nameplate output continuously, or at all.
I got a third party charger in Europe. It doesn't have any apple logo, but is otherwise a complete copy, design wise. It doesn't have any UL logo, though.
They often ship these directly from HK. They also create many different temporary companies to stay one step ahead of law enforcement, plus the Chinese government is less invested in stopping it to begin with.
I'm not a lawyer, but there's also trademark violation, trafficking in counterfeit goods (USC § 2320) and violation of the UL's service mark, not to mention plain old fraud.
Actually it is not. The CE mark is the producers guarantee that the product lives up the the European safety standards and it is the producers job to download and print the logo.
You cannot officially be CE certified by a third party, but once you slap on that logo you are very liable if you don't live up to the standard.
Given they probably operate out of China, I reckon they couldn't care less. :)
Not every country has an interest in enforcing US trademark law. Also, some interpretations of US trademark law can often be seen as excessive and/or hostile by other (western) countries.
