I recently purchased a pro controller on ebay, only to discover it was a counterfeit. The box looked to have a slightly diferent ink printed onto it, not as glossy as the original. It was marked as a "European" model, with the "Official Nintendo Seal" on it. The controller itself looks almost identical, with some very subtle difference in the paint finish, the only other distinguishable mark is the lack of "Nintendo" lettering in the nintendo circle logo underneath the battery compartment. Though the controller and box masquerade as being "European" models, the manuals included are American, and an exact copy of Nintendo's manual included in American versions of controllers, but again, this manual was not printed the same way.
I contacted the seller about a full refund and the seller responded, "hi, the goods is third part product, but with very good price. please help to understanding us. we can refund you $5 as compensation, please help to confirm. thanks ~". So NOW it is revealed by the seller that it is NOT in fact a Nintendo product but a third party product, but every attempt to convince me otherwise by the product and the listing has been made. "Copyright Nintendo" and other "Nintendo" logos are plastered all around the box, even on the back of the controller it states it is "Model: WUP-005", just as the Nintendo version.
The controller itself is a surprisingly accurate mockup, it is hard to distinguish from the real deal without the real deal sitting right next to it. However, the function of the controller is far inferior, the shoulder buttons hardly if ever work. I'm starting this thread mostly to inform people about the situation with Ebay Wii U Pro controllers, but also I am curious what legal recourse Nintendo has with this company who is obviously infringing patents and counterfeiting their products, selling them on Ebay for $25-$30. I would think they should have some recourse, but I know that counterfeit controllers have been a problem for a while, so I'm not sure. I remember counterfeit wii remotes being made, which looked almost real but had similar paint finish differences, and the gyro's wouldn't work reliably at all (they were AWFUL!) Any further insight would be appreciated.
I have included images of the fake, compared to the genuine article. In the first image, the top one is genuine, and you can tell the slight difference in finish.
