Apple wins crushing victory over Mac cloner

Posted on 16 Nov 2009 at 08:52

Apple has won a comprehensive victory in its court case against Psystar, the Florida-based maker of PCs running a hacked version of OS X.

In a ruling described by Groklaw as a “total massacre”, US District Judge William Alsup, dismissed Psystar’s defence out of hand, while granting Apple summary judgement on its claims against the cloner.

Psystar argued that since it had purchased the copy of OS X which it then copied onto the clone PCs, it owned that copy and could do with it whatever it wished.

Nonsense, said Judge Alsup.

“The copies at issue here were not lawfully manufactured with the authorization of the copyright owner,” he wrote in his ruling. “Psystar made an unauthorized copy of Mac OS X from a Mac mini that was placed onto an ‘imaging station’ and then used a ‘master copy’ to make many more unauthorized copies that were installed on individual Psystar computers.”

The court still has to rule on further Apple claims, of breach of contract, trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition. With Apple almost certain to prevail, Psystar faces ruin. Apple is demanding substantial damages as well as all Psystar’s profits from sales of the clones.

“In short, Psystar is toast,” wrote Groklaw’s Pamela Jones, dismissing any chance of a successful appeal.

“Psystar just got what's coming to them in the California case. … Psystar's only hope now is Florida, and frankly I wouldn't bet the house on that one. Judges notice if you were just found guilty of a similar cause of action in another state.”

Author: Simon Aughton

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