Apple sued eMachines for allegedly infringing upon the distinctive trade dress of the iMac with the eOne. Apple and eMachines settled the case in 2000, which required the model to be discontinued.
History and legal issues
Upon its release in 1999, the eOne came with a translucent "cool blue" case, while the original iMac had a two-toned case with "Bondi Blue" accents. At US$799, the eOne was also cheaper than the US$1,199 iMac. eMachines hoped to avoid legal trouble because the shape of the computer was different from the iMac. However, Apple sued eMachines, alleging that the computer's design infringed upon the protected trade dress of the iMac.[1] In March 2000, eMachines reached a settlement with Apple, under which it agreed to discontinue the infringing model.[2]
The eOne was available at Circuit City[3] and Micro Center, but it did not sell well in the few months when it was available due to a lawsuit from Apple which eventually caused the eOne to be widely considered a failure for eMachines. The eOne was discontinued in 2002, and due to its lackluster sales, is rare in the secondary market.
In 2007, three years after acquiring eMachines, Gateway released the One,[4] an all-in-one desktop computer similar to the eOne but in black and utilizing a flat-screen monitor.