Angry Pioneer says its ideas copied

Pioneer Computers managing director Jeff Li has alleged its design of a fan-less "green" consumer PC was ripped off by Malaysian vendor Ruvon.

Li told CRN that Pioneer worked with Intel to develop the Mini-Cap 7, which Pioneer made in China.

"The manufacturer makes hardware for all the top vendors," said Li.

"If you look at the pictures of Ruvon's product, also called Mini-Cap 7, it's the same product."

Both PCs were fan-less designs with an ION chip set and graphic card, and marketed as "green" consumer products, Li said.

He said he was upset Ruvon's product was brought into the country by Australian tablet PC distributor, Tegatech.

"The vendor isn't local and our price is $300 cheaper," he said.

 "We can sell to [Tegatech] the same product and give them good support if it drops the Malaysian vendor.

"We want to work with a local channel."

Tegatech's Hugo Ortega told CRN he was waiting for Li to contact him.

"We have worked with Ruvon for a long time and have used its sample products in the past," he said.

"I am open to discussion with Li about working together but I don't have any plans to drop Ruvon.

"Resellers needn't worry about the local support for Ruvon because Tegatech has an in-house support centre. We have just hired another technician so we can offer services on all the models we distribute."

Ortega said Tegatech wouldn't bring a product to market without local support.

"Recently we dropped a vendor because of issues around local support," he said. Tegatech was always looking for local vendors it can partner with, said Ortega.

"We are doing very well at the moment and are always open to discussion on partnering.

"We are also moving to a bigger office in Pitt Street, Sydney, in the next couple of weeks."