Mac clone maker sues Apple for antitrust violations

Posted on 27 Aug 2008 at 08:49

Mac clone maker Psystar has hit back at Apple’s efforts to shut it down by countersuing for restraint of trade, unfair competition and other violations of antitrust laws.

The company has filed a lawsuit claiming that Apple’s end user licensing agreement (EULA), which restricts the use of OS X to Apple computers, is unlawful.

“We’re alleging restraint of trade, among other things,” said Colby Springer, an attorney representing Psystar told a press conference. “We’re going to let the court decide.”

Springer insisted that Psystar has not, as claimed, made any modifications to Apple’s software and nor has it copied OS X installation discs.

He said that the changes that have been made in order to get OS X to run on the Psystar PCs only affected the software’s open source components and were made under the terms of the licences that governed those components.

“There is no modification of any proprietary code of Apple’s,” he said.

Psystar hit the headlines in April when it began selling PCs pre-loaded with a hacked version of Apple’s OS X operating system. In July, Apple duly filed a lawsuit alleging "violation of its shrink wrap license, trademark and copyright infringement”.

Legal experts predicted a “slam dunk” for Apple, which is seeking a recall of all sold units, all profits earned from their sale, triple damages and a permanent injunction against future sales. If the court agrees to those terms, Psystar is likely to be put out of business.

Author: Simon Aughton

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