Note To "Duh" Computing: A Lesson From Other's Who Have Copied Apple Designs

by , 2:30 PM EST, November 17th, 2000

When are the trademark pirates going to get the message that Apple will vigorous prosecute all comers? At Comdex in Las Vegas an unknown group calling itself D.A. Computing Tech of Taiwan announced the release of a Linux server that clearly violates the "trade dress" of Apple's Power Mac G4 cube.

D.A. Computing Tech appropriately named their G4 Cube look-alike the "Komodo Server" after the world's largest cold-blooded land animal — a lizard that lives only on one isolated Indonesian island near Timor.

The Komodo server appears to be much larger than the G4 Cube (approximately twice as big) in photos taken at Comdex probably because it uses conventional, off-the-shelf PC technology based on an Intel chipset. However, the Mac Observer's e-mail requests for the Komodo's specs have not been answered.

A visit to D.A.'s Website reveals the G4 Cube look-alike is the only product the company has on the market. D.A. Computing Tech seems to be yet another obscure offshore operation established solely to capitalize on Apple's insanely great industrial designs.

In the autumn of 1999 Apple crushed the first in a string of iMac knockoffs by pursuing trade dress litigation against K.K. Sotec in a Tokyo District Court

Apple also successfully prevented eMachine and Daewoo from infringing upon the iMac's trade dress earlier this year, "by securing worldwide injunctions that prevent the two companies from manufacturing, distributing, selling or promoting their respective computers," according to an Apple press release.

eMachines (EEEE) went public in March with grand hopes that their iMac rip-off would quickly siphon off Apple iMac sales and put the pirate corporation in the black. Instead eMachine's price per share has fallen more than 90% and the company is hemorrhaging cash. In their latest quarter they lost $6.1 million or $0.04 per share on sales of $175 million and announced plans to reduce production by 20% due to falling demand for their low-end products.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Interestingly, while rogue pirate operations took over a year to attempt a heist of the iMac's design. D.A.'s efforts to emulate the G4 Cube come less than 6 months after the Cube's introduction at MacWorld in July.

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