November 16th, 2009
Psystar massacred in court (Updated)
Mac clone maker Psystar was dealt a significant legal blow on Friday when federal judge William Alsup ruled (PDF) that it violated Apple’s copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Groklaw called the ruling by “a total massacre” noting that Psystar’s first-sale defense went down in flames. Psystar’s motion for summary judgment on trademark infringement and trade dress was denied as was its illusory motion for copyright misuse.
Ouch.
And that’s not the end of it. There are still issues to be decided, namely Apple’s allegations of breach of contract; induced breach of contract, trademark infringement and trademark dilution. A hearing is scheduled for December 14 to review remedies. And somewhere in Florida there’s a very fat lady singing.
Suffice it to say that Psystar would have a tough time recovering from Friday’s ruling. And it’s a shame too because Psystar filled a need in the market for an expandable desktop computer at an inexpensive price that happened to run Mac OS X. The only problem was that that last part was ruled illegal by a federal judge which pretty much put the last nail in the coffin of the scrappy little company from Florida.
At press time, the Psystar Web site was still open and accepting orders. If you want a souvenir, you may want to get your order in while you still can.
Should Psystar appeal the ruling? Will they continue to sell PCs without Mac OS X?
Tip: Groklaw
Picture: The Small Wave
Update: Psystar open sourced a bunch of their software tools in the wake of the federal judge’s ruling.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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