Apple takes anti-eMachines suit to Japan

Apple today extended its legal action against eMachines to Japan by firing off a writ against the cut-price PC vendor's Japanese distributor, Sotec. The Mac maker alleges eMachines, and its Korean parents Trigem and Korean Data Systems (KDS), ripped off the design of the iMac for their own consumer computer, the eOne. Last week, it filed a suit intended to block the distribution of the eOne in the US. eMachines, Trigem, KDS and now Sotec certainly have a case to answer. The spec. of the eOne may be different, but we would defy anyone familiar with the consumer computer market not to spot the similarity with the iMac. Just take a look at the machines shown here. The pictures also include Korean company Future Power's allegedly iMac-inspired ePower PC. Sotec defended the eOne with the claim that Apple's action "is not fair". A spokesman said: "We developed the eOne using our own technology." That's not in dispute: what is the final product of that "technology", which, frankly, does look like an iMac, though not as much as Future Power's box. ® Related Stories Apple attacks iMac rip-offs