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Apple Finally Takes on PsystarFamous Mac cloner hit with lawsuit by Apple |
By Filip Truta, Apple News Editor
16th of July 2008, 09:18 GMT
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For months, Apple has disappointingly taken no action against the bold, Florida-based Mac cloner going by the name of Psystar, that ships regular PCs equipped with Apple's OS X Leopard. The company went as far as messing around with Apple's Extensible Firmware Interface, which directly violates the latter's EULA. Apple quietly did some investigating and, when the moment was right, sued Psystar for its illicit activities.
Apple's End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) explicitly states that no one is allowed to install Mac OS X on a non-Apple-branded computer. Psystar says it installs Leopard's kernel on the Open Computers it sells, straight from the OS X disc, using an EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) emulator
and a few drivers. This is in direct violation with Apple's EULA: "We take it very seriously when we believe people have stolen our intellectual property," said a spokesperson for the company.
A Psystar employee earlier said that Apple's terms themselves violate U.S. monopoly laws, adding that the Cupertino-based company "grossly overcharges for its hardware," according to Macworld. That still doesn't change anything, since Apple has the right to come up with its own EULA, from which point it's anyone's choice whether they want to use an Apple computing solution or not. In part, Apple's EULA goes a bit like this:
Single Use: This License allows you to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software in a single Apple-labeled computer at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time.
Sure, it would be nice of Apple to give PC the green OS X light, but until that happens, companies like Psystar have no place to do business based on Apple's software, not without a bit of fuss anyway.
M. Kelly Tillery, a lawyer at Pepper Hamilton LLP in Philadelphia, offered Macworld an example of how Apple's OS X license works. "If I license something to you, and say you can only use it in a certain manner and you breach that - it is in fact copyright infringement," he said.
Explaining why Apple took so long to take legal action against the Florida-based Mac cloners, Tillery said it is not uncommon for a company to take its time when faced with a situation such as this one. "You do a proper investigation before you go to court," Tillery explained. "If it's not going to cause reputable damage, you want to take your time and do it right."
Until the jury issues a verdict on this, you're welcome to share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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