So much for cheap designer knockoffs. Wave buh-bye to the likes of the E-Power and the eOne; according to an Apple press release, the company has "successfully concluded" its litigation against the cloners looking to score some easy cash by copying the iMac's distinctive-- and immensely successful-- look. Until now, Apple had won several preliminary injunctions against the offending companies temporarily barring them from making more of the clones, but the final outcome of those cases was still up in the air. Now, though, Apple's probably dancing a little victory jig. The cases are over-- the defendants caved in the face of the injunctions and have settled, agreeing not to make or sell their iMacalikes any more.

While Daewoo's E-Power (which was to be distributed in the U.S. by Future Power) was never actually sold, to the best of our knowledge, K. K. Sotec's eOne has been available for purchase here in the U.S. (bearing the eMachines brand) for quite some time now. And it's been all the more galling to see the translucent blue and white eOne on display at the local Micro Center knowing that eMachines is actually beating Apple in the retail sales standings these days; that fact's been casting an icy pall over our otherwise sunny demeanor. According to a Reuters story, though, those eOnes won't be uglifying store shelves for much longer. Reportedly eMachines has agreed to "stop selling the current version of its eOne computers by March 31st." After that date, Apple will once again be cornering the market on translucent blue and white all-in-one computers, and all will be right with the world.

Note that under the terms of the settlement, Apple's allowed eMachines to market a future system bearing the "eOne" name. Now that Apple's successful court cases have placed its distinctive industrial designs strictly in the "copy this and get your butt sued" category, we can't help but wonder what sorts of designs the PC manufacturers will come up with on their own. Without the iMac as a viable template, we're anticipating some truly startling-looking attempts to cash in on the translucence/bright colors trend. Some manufacturers should probably consider sticking with beige...