July 15th, 2008
The end of Mac clones: Apple sues Psystar
Updated below: Apple has filed a lawsuit against Psystar, a Mac clone maker based in Florida.
The lawsuit, which was flagged by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, is a little vague at the moment. The complaint isn’t available electronically, but documents reveal that Apple filed its suit on July 3 in the northern district of California.
Apple alleges licensing and trademark violations and copyright infringement. Apple apparently was waiting to see if Psystar (all resources) was legit and finding customers before launching its lawsuit.
It’s odd that the complaint isn’t available unless it’s sealed. But the document history confirms the complaint was filed:
A case management conference is scheduled for Oct. 22 to determine where the case goes from here. One thing is clear. Apple has an army of lawyers from Townsend and Townsend and Crew. Psystar has nada. Guess who will win this spat?
More details–and hopefully the complaint too–as I get them.
Update: Townsend and Townsend and Crew referred my calls to Apple, which hasn’t gotten back to me yet. My working theory is that this complaint is sealed. It’s not sealed. See Update 2.
Update 2: We have the complaint–sorry it’s hard copy–but Sam Diaz will post excerpts in an upcoming post. Here’s the short version: Apple is great. Psystar isn’t. Psystar used Apple’s intellectual property and diluted the Apple brand to boot. We’re going to sue Psystar into submission. Ok that last part wasn’t stated that way in the complaint, but you get the idea.
Update 3: The complaint excerpts are posted. Money quote:
Apple “will suffer and is suffering irreparable harm from Psystar’s infringement of the Apple trademark insofar as Apple’s invaluable good will is being eroded by (Psystar’s) continuing infringement.”
Invaluable good? Sounds like Apple is saving the world from destruction one Mac/iPhone/iPod at a time.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Smart Planet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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