http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
Come on, I know its apple but beyond a similar shaped boxes, they are completely different.

I guess under the lawsuit logic, someone should sue Apple for copying the G5 tower. Yeah, its made from different material, but its still a tower...]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
I'd like to know what kind of patent or copyright Apple could get them on here.

Looks to me like nothing more than a form factor, and if you could copyright that, there would only be one laptop maker, one pizza-box case, and one tower-case manufacturer in the world...]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/The Shuttle is still 2-3X the size, costs the same or more than towers, and look horrible. The Mac mini brought the spotlight on small form factor computers. They essentially pioneered a market that others dabbled in. AOpen won't be the last PC manufacturer that tries to match the mini.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
I think Engadget and the first 4 comments are referring to the look of AOpen's computer looks (silver and round edge box) almost exactly like the Mac mini not because it is a small form computer.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
#5 is almost correct... Apple hasn't really led with this first... AOPEN and Shuttle have had led the mini case market for quite sometime. they just didn't see the need to target the low-end consumer market. Most of these systems were for the mod consumer market and DIYers.

the mac minimalist is nice but it's really just an intro for the consumer market to test the waters of the Apple os/line... other then adding to the the unit via other stacked component boxes - which truly defeats the purpose of being a mini... the mini concept is a dead-end purchase forcing you to eventually go to a higher end model or laptop. at least it will make for a nice bookend one day instead of a doorstop.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
http://www.cappuccinopc.com/cappuccino.asp

Too many see far too much into Apple's capabilities. Apple is not the end-all, be-all of tech. Companies like AOpen are merely bottom feeders.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
I see this as Aopen being too cheap to hire their own designers... and stealing from an existing popular line. Shame Aopen!]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
Cost? Those Pentium M's ain't cheap. This will be a good test of the Mini-Mac, how does it compare on price and performance? I'm guessing that the Mac comes out on top.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
"Working prototypes of the Mac mini look-alike running Microsoft Windows and based on Intel's Pentium M CPU have already been built by Taiwan PC maker AOpen at Intel's request, according to two sources in Taiwan's PC manufacturing industry who have seen them."

http://www.wirednews.com/news/technology/0,1282,67664,00.html

Now, I realize I'm not an international corporation, but if Intel came to me and asked me to do something, it would be hard to say no. Don't hate the player, hate the game. :)]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
Is that a DVI video out???]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
To my knowledge, no lawsuit was filed yet the thing disappeared. I think for the most part, people realize this is a knock-off and will more than likely buy the original.

And it's really funny watching all these people complain about how Apple just copied the small-form "mini" computers from a "long time ago." I guess they just have no design-sense to tell the difference. I suppose they're the ones who feel ma and pa should own a state-of-the-art gaming machine otherwise they're retarded.

Fishes,
narco.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
Also in the news, Ford sues EVERYONE for making vehicles that have 4 wheels. They claim these blatant vehicle designs are blatant rip offs. A company exec was quoted, "I mean look at chevy and every other car manufacturer. They include doors, trunks, tires, and windows for god's sake...the windows were a pet project of mine, and i intend to see these companies are punished. WE WANT COMPENSATION."

In the end, that's what its about. People and companies compensating for their shortcomings. Translate and discuss.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/I look for one to be offered with the new VIA portable cpu which uses less power and costs a lot less than the Intel M class cpu.
IMHO VIA could well make inroads in this sector pretty quickly. I can see why Intel are interested. We are basically opening up the car PC market and a consumer home theater product with these designs.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/It seems to be you who needs a clue. As a matter of fact there IS international copyright law that covers design. Please don't shoot off your Windoze infected brain before doing some research. Apple has successfully defended many copycats. If you want something that looks like a Mac, get with it and just cross over!]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
I don't what design you babies WOULDN'T complain about. It's not like they have a lot of choice in the design matter.

I think this is useless and stupid, but as far as design, it's just a small square box. What could they possibly do to change it and still be practical? Make it pyramid shaped? Or cylinder shaped?

It's not like it's a groundbreaking design or anything.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
Designs cannot generally be copyrighted. See here:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wwp

"Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others:

Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents"

Various *elements* of designs can be copyrighted, other elements can be patented, and still others can be trademarked. Most companies with a clue will include enough of this protectable IP in their designs such that copying it would be basically impossible from a legal standpoint - you'd have to change so many things about it that in the end there would be no resemblance.

Apple, on the other hand, almost goes out of their way to ensure that their designs are *not* protectable. I don't see how you can call a plain, small aluminum box an "unfamiliar" design. No, nobody could make a similar box and then stick the Apple logo on top, but anyone can make a small aluminum box and put their own logo on top. You can't copyright, trademark or patent a metal box.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
This came out over a year ago and the Apple Mini is a blantant rip off of it. So shut up if you now complain that Aopen has also copied the Nanode.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
"Up to 256MB SDRAM Memory"

Yeah... uh.. doesn't the Mac mini go up to 1gb?

As for the Aopen model, it's flattering, but that's about it. I don't think Apple will waste their time sueing for this one.

I think Apple would be more curious what's under the hood... like how in the hell are they cooling this thing? I know it's a Pentium M, but still... you could fry some bacon and eggs on the bottom of some laptop models that use the M.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
Sure, like anyone would confuse the nanode with the mini (or mini PC knock off). (if anything, the nanode could be more a mis-shapened Apple Cube (on it's side) of 4 years ago than a mini look alike)

Just because something is a small form factor doesn't make it a copy. Even the Intel mini protoype/mockup of a few months back (after the Mac mini intro) looked a bit different (squared off corners, different materials/look)... not a dead ringer.

The recent SuperShuffle and this PC-mini are examples of shamelessly trying to cash in on others R&D (and possible confusion by the buyer).
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/What is so amazing? Certainly not the technology used in a Mac mini. Everything in this box is from yesteryears. 2 year old graphics card, old memory bus, slow harddisk, same old G4 CPU, so-so sound and no 1GBit Ethernet. Hmmm... I can't find any other amazing products from Apple. All the technology is copied from PC's. What's left is a great design and marketing. But that won't sell huge volumes. Most people don't care how it looks as long as its cheap and does the job.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
yeah, that's why you get games a year after they're released on PC ;)

Mac fanboys need to stfu.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
yeah, that's why you get games a year after they're released on PC ;)

Mac fanboys need to stfu.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
If they could, Apple would be wise to simply license their shape out at an affordable cost. Imagine if all sorts of accessories came out in a stackable format - hard drives, KVM switches, wireless base stations, routers, etc. Just link 'em all with very short firewire or USB cables ... easy expansion for the masses!

And someone really /should/ come out with a powersupply module the same size & shape (thinner in the vertical dimension maybe).]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
I say, enjoy the ride and 'don't be hatin'...]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
But this is an exact copy. It's not because it's small, or has an optical drive at the top, or rounded corners, it's the fact that it's virtually identical except for the placement of the power button. This isn't a Mac-vs-PC thing, so everybody settle down. It's just a matter of AOpen getting lazy and I personally hope they don't get away with it.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
Who cares about PC games coming late to macs.Grow the f*ck up
not everyone cares about games.I hate when people cant give credit were credit is due.This is a big rip off point blank]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
But they didn't. If this was the ONLY form factor a small computer could achieve, that'd be one thing. Fact is, I could come up with two designs off the top of my head that would be just different enough to avoid any kind of legal entanglement. They didn't even try.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/31/aopens-pandora-mac-mini-clone-opens-box-of-legal-trouble/
eMachines got sued and eventually settled the lawsuit by pulling the eOne off the market.

http://news.com.com/Apple+settles+suits+over+iMac+knockoffs/2100-1040_3-237717.html]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM