|
Fake Gameboy charger kills boy |
|
|
|
Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
|
|
Saturday, 13 October 2007 |
 To those that think IP theft is not a serious offence, think again. A 7-year old boy, Connor O’Keefe, was electrocuted by a counterfeit Gameboy charger while on a family
holiday in Thailand, an inquest was told yesterday.
Keith Skinner, Connor’s stepfather, said that he had bought the charger
in the belief it had been made by Nintendo.
According to The Sun, Connor was found dead on the floor of his hotel room in the island of Phuket, clutching
the wires of the £9 charger. They bought the charger while in Phuket after he forgot to take his own.
After Connor’s death, the device was sent to LGA, a German electrical
laboratory, where it was found to be far below European safety standards. The gap between the primary and secondary circuits was 1 millimetre wide,
compared with European standards, which require 4.6mm gap. It made the lead to the games machine “live”.
John Sampson, the coroner, condemned the sale of counterfeit goods. He said,
They look as if they might be official, and there is no way of knowing by
looking at them that they are anything but official. As a response to the tragic news, Nintendo said that it would continue to work with Connor’s family in an effort
to trace where the charger came from. Nintendo had taken 110 actions against counterfeiters and seized 160,000 products in Thailand.
This serves as a warning and a reminder as to the seriousness of IP theft and what could happen if counterfeiters are allowed to trade upon the goodwill of others.
R.I.P. Connor O'Keefe
|
