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Apple defeats iMac cloners

Future Power/Daewoo, eMachines settle out of court

Apple's anti-iMacalike lawsuits against Korean PC vendor Daewoo and Korea-backed eMachines have been won by the Mac maker. Both actions were settled out of court, and comes after the San Jose Federal District Court granted Apple preliminary injunctions against Daewoo banning it from "manufacturing, distributing, selling or promoting" its iMac clone, the Daewoo ePower (sold by the vendor's Future Power subsidiary). That injunction was granted last November. eMachines' machine is the eOne. The granting of injunctions in the US comes six months after Apple won similar relief in the Far East. In September, Apple won a ban that prevented Japanese distributor Sotec from offering the eOne in Japan, a move that led to an out-of-court settlement in January. Sotec agreed to pay Apple damages and cease selling the eOne with a two-tone iMac-style colour scheme. However, it can - and does - sell an all-grey eOne. And presumably eMachines' settlement covers the original eOne, and not the grey one. In each case, the respective PC vendor agreed not to manufacture or market iMac-esque computers anywhere in the world. Preliminary injunctions are (generally) granted if the court believes the plaintiff will win their case, so it was largely only a matter of time before eMachines and Daewoo came to a settlement with Apple. The time taken to announce the settlement is probably a sign of how long the parties' lawyers have taken to reach a deal. ®

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