Apple and Psystar have agreed to take their legal dispute to a place where few can see and hear what the two companies are discussing. Sources inform that the duo have adopted the alternative-dispute-resolution (ADR) process, as a dispute method.

The Mac Observer reveals that Apple and Mac-cloner Psystar are pursuing a mediated settlement to their legal dispute over the latter's Open Computers. The publication has dug up court filings saying that the pair has agreed to participate in the alternative-dispute-resolution (ADR), as a way to work around the costly legal process, whilst keeping details under wraps.

The court filing from the US District Court of Northern California's website states that Apple and Psystar have agreed to three portions of the ADR process: non-binding arbitration, early neutral evaluation and mediation. The parties have also come into accord to hold their sessions by January 31, 2009.

Psystar makes profits thanks in part to Apple's Mac operating system, Mac OS X. In April this year, the company began shipping its OpenMac, a regular PC whose parts had been fed some drivers to be able to run Apple's Mac OS X Leopard. As the business thrived, watchful eyes over in Cupertino asked Psystar to change the OpenMac name into something that would not include “Mac,” then asked it to permanently cease all its activity surrounding the Mac OS.

Apple's EULA specifically states that no other system, except its own, is allowed to run Mac OS X. So, the company sued. Faced with these allegations, Psystar answered back saying Apple was violating monopoly laws by tying OS X to its hardware. According to recent reports, Psystar even claims Apple embedded code in Mac OS X that sends the system into a kernel panic when it recognizes non-Apple hardware.

Psystar is now requesting the court to find Apple's EULA void, and is asking for unspecified damages. Its attorneys are calling Apple's allegations of copyright infringement "misinformed and mischaracterized."

It is yet unclear which of the two parties requested the Alternative Dispute Resolution.