HP taken to task for releasing iMac clone
After joining a variety of other PC makers in producing "Ultrabooks" closely patterned after Apple's MacBook Air, HP has released a new "Spectre One" PC that looks "painfully" like an Apple iMac.
Matthew Panzarino of the NextWeb announced the new HP model with the headline "HP introduces new Apple iMac," calling it "painful to look at" and saying it "looks like absolutely nothing other than a complete clone of Apple?s iMac."
The new HP doesn't have the identical aluminum bezel as Apple's iMac line, but does trade in HP's typical black plastic case for a design that appears to be Apple's Cinema Display.
The world's largest PC company by unit sales even paired its new model with a slim wireless keyboard and trackpad that look identical to the designs Apple first released for the revised aluminum iMac in 2007.
Other media outlets covering the new model appeared careful not to raise any suggestion that HP's latest PC was desperately trying to get some mileage out of the design Apple made famous, but users commenting on those reports pointed out the obvious. Those comments were met by others who insisted that Apple's designs were really the only way to make devices ranging from PCs to tablets to smartphones.
Electronista noted that HP's new model "that instantly recalls Apple's iMac" is touted for its "Windows 8-rediness" but does not support touchscreen input, relying instead upon trackpad gestures "in another nod to an Apple philosophy."
Nothing is new about copying Apple's designs; the company just sued Samsung over trade dress and design patents for what it called "slavish copying" of its iPhone and iPad. A jury agreed, returning a verdict that included over $1billion in fines and profit return to Apple.
Just over ten years ago, Apple similarly filed for trade dress claims related to its original translucent plastic iMac model, which injected interest into the boring PC industry that had seen little design innovation in more than a decade.
Apple successfully stopped eMachines, Daewoo and other Asian PC makers from selling their iMac copies. Since then, the company has launched relatively few legal actions to protect its Mac designs, apart from a battle with Psystar that successfully stopped the tiny firm from including Apple's OS X software on its "OpeniMac" PCs.
At the same time, however, Apple's close partner Intel has actively stoked imitation among larger PC makers, introducing a Mac mini clone with AOpen based on the chip maker's "reference design" for small PCs in 2005.
Apple has since redesigned the Mac mini to more closely resemble its Apple TV box, but Samsung and Google immediately teamed up to deliver a "Series 3 Chromebox" with the same design, right down to its round lid base.
Last year, Intel launched another "reference design" response to Apple's increasingly successful MacBook line under the brand "Ultrabook," and has spent hundreds of millions to advertise the initiative.
PC makers dutifully turned out a series of MacBook clones in time for Intel to display a half dozen doppelg?ngers at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in January, with HP among the companies looking to Apple for design leadership.
Matthew Panzarino of the NextWeb announced the new HP model with the headline "HP introduces new Apple iMac," calling it "painful to look at" and saying it "looks like absolutely nothing other than a complete clone of Apple?s iMac."
The new HP doesn't have the identical aluminum bezel as Apple's iMac line, but does trade in HP's typical black plastic case for a design that appears to be Apple's Cinema Display.
The world's largest PC company by unit sales even paired its new model with a slim wireless keyboard and trackpad that look identical to the designs Apple first released for the revised aluminum iMac in 2007.
Other media outlets covering the new model appeared careful not to raise any suggestion that HP's latest PC was desperately trying to get some mileage out of the design Apple made famous, but users commenting on those reports pointed out the obvious. Those comments were met by others who insisted that Apple's designs were really the only way to make devices ranging from PCs to tablets to smartphones.
Electronista noted that HP's new model "that instantly recalls Apple's iMac" is touted for its "Windows 8-rediness" but does not support touchscreen input, relying instead upon trackpad gestures "in another nod to an Apple philosophy."
Nothing is new about copying Apple's designs; the company just sued Samsung over trade dress and design patents for what it called "slavish copying" of its iPhone and iPad. A jury agreed, returning a verdict that included over $1billion in fines and profit return to Apple.
Just over ten years ago, Apple similarly filed for trade dress claims related to its original translucent plastic iMac model, which injected interest into the boring PC industry that had seen little design innovation in more than a decade.
Apple successfully stopped eMachines, Daewoo and other Asian PC makers from selling their iMac copies. Since then, the company has launched relatively few legal actions to protect its Mac designs, apart from a battle with Psystar that successfully stopped the tiny firm from including Apple's OS X software on its "OpeniMac" PCs.
At the same time, however, Apple's close partner Intel has actively stoked imitation among larger PC makers, introducing a Mac mini clone with AOpen based on the chip maker's "reference design" for small PCs in 2005.
Apple has since redesigned the Mac mini to more closely resemble its Apple TV box, but Samsung and Google immediately teamed up to deliver a "Series 3 Chromebox" with the same design, right down to its round lid base.
Last year, Intel launched another "reference design" response to Apple's increasingly successful MacBook line under the brand "Ultrabook," and has spent hundreds of millions to advertise the initiative.
PC makers dutifully turned out a series of MacBook clones in time for Intel to display a half dozen doppelg?ngers at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in January, with HP among the companies looking to Apple for design leadership.
Comments
People want an imac.. Not a imac lookalike pc.
Imac is more than a piece of decoration in the house or office!
Ho discredits itself as a dumb copycat with no ideas!
Plus new imacs are on theur way! So much for coping the old!
Okay, fine, pick up this story that is on the other Mac sites.
…
But at least include the Vizio model that I mentioned in one of the earlier comment sections. You know, the one that does the exact same thing, ignoring all the earlier hoo-hah about "trackpads on a desktop computer" that the Anti-Apple Brigade loves to whine about.
On a different note, where can I get a HalfBook Pro?
imac
So if HP has chosen to put the guts on the bottom, the display on top that is different than Apple which puts the guts and display on the top.
The one thing I have yet to see is Apple actually go after blatant violators of trade dress in China. Has anyone actually looked at the products unveiled there which are identical to the iPhone in every way and yet Apple doesn't go after them.
Then there is the Goophone i5 http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/30/goophone-i5-manages-to-kirf-the-2012-iphone-weeks-in-advance/ which the manufacturer has patented the design in China and has publicly said they will sue Apple if they release an iP5 that looks like it.
I have to chuckle at that one given the fact that theirs is a (possible) rip off of the next iPhone which we may or may not see on Wednesday.
At any rate I am waiting to replace my current MBP 13" with a new MBP Retina 13" with Apple Cinema display.
Why are they interesting? Because they are doing their own thing, and that's how the consumer gets real choice. Even if it's a crap choice, it's a genuine alternative.
Apple doesn't sell "MACS" - they sell Macs, short for Macintoshes, not an acronym.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RaptorOO7
Next we will see tire companies suing for copying the look of a tire. While I can say sure it has similarities so what. People who buy a MAC do so for the OS X benefits (like I did)
The problem with your analogy is you can't patent something that is necessary to the utility of something. So, for a tire to work it has to be round. You can't patent that. Now you can patent how the rubber is made.
I buy a Mac for both the integrated design of the hardware and the operating system. Apple is a hardware company that uses software and cutting edge design to sell the hardware. It doesn't want other machines looking like its own.
The simple solution is to find something similar to the iMac that runs windows, or I have to buy the most over loaded iMac I can get so I can run Parallels and Windows which is a hog on resources.
I do agree though if you want a Mac you get a Mac, if you want Windows you get a wider range and variety of configurations and design options, sort of like Android vs iOS. I use an iPad 3, I will be getting the iP5 64GB and will be happy. But not everyone wants iOS they want choices so Android does just that.
Am I a fanbois for thinking HP's version is downright ugly?
Quote:
Originally Posted by majortom1981
Apple is allowed to copy braun but nobody is allowed to copy apple? That does not make sense.
Show me a Braun design patent that Apple is copying. I won't hold my breathe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash_beezy
And all the apple hater's will come out with a rebuttal saying apple is evil and they stole the designs from someone else..
Euclid, perhaps?
Mental gymnastics brought to you courtesy of Apple Haters Without a Reason.