That specific technology may be patented, but how many ways can you skin a cat?
Apple doesn't own the patent on transmitting electricity and power across close proximity devices without wires. There are phone chargers, not manufactured by Apple, that use the same technology. Plus, patents are "usually" pretty specific when they concern electronic communications and transmission. While unethical, a competitor can change a few details and get away with producing the same thing. Frequency/Size/Color/Name... if it looks different, it must be different (judge logic).
I only know this because my father once invented a set of jumper cables that would tell you whether or not your jumper cables were hooked up properly before completing the circuit from the charged battery to the dead car battery (avoiding shocks or the rare explosions from arcing electricity igniting gas from the battery chemical compounds). He went to patent it and found that someone else already owned the patent. He contacted the inventor and gained approval to sell the jumper cables with their current design. After presenting to a manufacturing company who turned him down, they appeared on shelves months later. He initiated litigation that went nowhere because the producer (who got the original plans from the company he pitched the idea to) changed a few connections and technical specifications and was able to dodge a guilty verdict. It happens.
So why PC makers can't apply a great idea to their products is beyond me... and don't say it's due ethical business practices. Those guys are morally bankrupt.