Korea’s TriGem Computer is confident of being able to resume sales of its cut-price computers in Japan within two weeks following a ban on sales of its e-One PCs earlier this week. A Tokyo district court ordered the Yokohama-based PC distributor Sotec, which is jointly owned by TriGem and Korean monitor manufacturer Korea Data Systems, to stop marketing its low-priced PCs in Japan after Apple Computer Inc filed a lawsuit claiming that the manufacturers of the e-One PC had illegally copied the design of Apple’s iMac computer. The ruling was made after Sotec failed to tender a written explanation as
demanded by the court.
TriGem, now Korea’s leading computer producer, said that it will appeal against the decision but will also start marketing PCs with a new design and color scheme in Japan in two weeks. The damage from the ban will be not significant because the e-One PCs we supplied to Sotec have almost sold out, a TriGem official said. The e-One features a blue-and-white translucent body and is priced at around
128,000 yen ($1,200). Sotec has shipped about 20,000 units since July and there remains a backlog of orders for about 30,000 more. In the US, TriGem and KDS sell their products through another joint venture, e-Machines, which is also being sued by Apple.
