Psystar Defeated

Psystar was brought to its knees by Judge Alsup on December 15, 2009 when he granted Apple a permanent injunction against the Mac cloner. As for the Rebel EFI (still selling on Psystar’s website at the time of this writing), the judge refused to exclude it from the injunction.

Outlining that Psystar was not very clear about what Rebel EFI did (although it is clear the tool is made to circumvent Apple security measures), the judge reportedly said that, “Psystar continues to sell it ‘at its peril’ at the risk of ‘finding itself in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction,’” according to the Groklaw legal blog.

The blog serves those interested in the litigation well, court documents being said to stipulate that, “Only a clear explanation of the product, and discovery about it, can determine the matter, and Psystar is free to bring a motion and submit to discovery about Rebel EFI, if it wishes to reopen the question.” The injunction includes forbidding Psystar from “intentionally inducing, aiding, assisting, abetting, or encouraging any other person or entity to infringe plaintiff's copyrighted Mac OS X software,” determining Groklaw to resonate with judge Alsup’s thinking.

Court filings also say that Psystar can't “manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof that is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure,” which pretty much spells death for Psystar’s business, the Groklaw legal blog points out.

The Florida-based would-be Mac cloner has until December 31st to comply, although the judge suggested it did so in one hour (or so Groklaw implies). Psystar is also faced with having to destroy everything tied to circumventing Apple's products, as well as report to Cupertino when it has finished doing so, with detailed information on the process.