# Why is there a market for empty Apple product boxes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-market-for-empty-apple-product-boxes/614692>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 4, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-market-for-empty-apple-product-boxes/614692 "2012-03-04T01:54:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-market-for-empty-apple-product-boxes/614692/21 "2012-03-09T02:02:32Z")

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> [@Balthisar](#):
>
> Are they looking for _fake_ Tiffany boxes, though? We generally follow the first-sale doctrine in the USA, meaning that I sure as heck have the right to sell a legitimate Tiffany box.

Yes, you have the legal right, as far as I know. What you also have is a scared ebay executive who doesn’t want to be sued for Trademark infringement. They yank auctions under the presumption that the goods are counterfeit, and lack a reasonable way for sellers to appeal and get their auctions back up.

Same thing for flea markets, really. They take the booth owner aside and mention that they’d hate awfully for their lawyers to see the blue boxes for sale and file a lawsuit for trademark violations and counterfeit goods. Usually makes people nervous enough to take the boxes off display…at least until the Tiffany rep leaves.

But sure, I suppose they’re looking for actual counterfeit bags, too.

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**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-market-for-empty-apple-product-boxes/614692/22 "2012-03-09T03:34:19Z")

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> [@Balthisar](#):
>
> Are they looking for _fake_ Tiffany boxes, though? We generally follow the first-sale doctrine in the USA, meaning that I sure as heck have the right to sell a legitimate Tiffany box.
> 
> I keep my iMac boxes for this specific purpose.

Yup. Me too. She doesn’t.

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**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-a-market-for-empty-apple-product-boxes/614692/23 "2012-03-09T15:20:02Z")

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> [@tdn](#):
>
> Yeah, I’ve heard that they jealously guard their boxes and that color. Don’t they have a copyright on the color?

[Tiffany blue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_Blue) is a color trademark (and custom Pantone color PMS 1837, after the year Tiffany & Co. was founded).

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