I guess they really couldn't say, "Inspired by the MacBook Air" or "Inspired by Apple"

When Apple made the MacBook Air, Intel realized the potential of the form factor. They in turn put up a bounty for companies to claim if they made similar systems. The goal was to increase orders for the (at the time) custom Intel processors that went into the Air.

Kinda sad when the CPU vendor sees one company actually innovating and has to put up bounties to get the others to even attempt to copy it.

I'm sure you guys know there were ultra portable laptops long before the mac book air and they even had ethernet.

The definition of "Ultrabook" is very specific, and did not apply to ultraportables of the past. It takes into account weight, thickness, battery life, resume from hibernate time, and speed of the storage and processors along with including some specific Intel features. It's a term Intel made similar to Centrino in the past. In other words, mostly a marketing brand/term.

Technically, the MacBook Air is not an Ultrabook either. And Apple has made ultraportables before the Air, such as the 12 inch Powerbook G4 and the Powerbook Duo.

I'm happy for Apple and Intel.