14 DAY TRIAL // Similar to a fighting video game scenario, Psystar has won its first round in the legal battle with Apple. Inc. Psystar is now being offered the possibility to continue its countersuit against the original Mac maker. The judge allegedly hinted that others like Psystar might also be allowed to sell regular PCs with Leopard pre-installed on them, should Psystar provide further evidence that its allegations stand.
9to5mac provides excerpts from the original Computerworld report breaking the news to the world, which can be read below.
A federal judge last week ruled that Psystar Corp. can continue its countersuit against Apple Inc., giving the Mac clone maker a rare win in its seven-month-old battle with Apple. He also hinted that if Psystar proves its allegations, others may then be free to sell computers with Mac OS X already installed.
In an order signed on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup gave Psystar the go-ahead to amend its lawsuit against Apple. According to Alsup, Psystar may change that countersuit, which originally accused Apple of breaking antitrust laws, to instead ague that Apple has stretched copyright laws by tying the Mac operating system to its hardware.
"Psystar may well have a legitimate interest in establishing misuse [of copyright] independent of Apple's claims against it - for example, to clarify the risks it confronts by marketing the products at issue in this case or others it may wish to develop," Alsup said in his ruling.
In short, Psystar now needs to totally prove that Apple is doing the wrong thing by tying Mac OS X to its hardware.
The report also mentions that the judge did not name the "potential defendants." However, in previous filings, Apple has claimed that Psystar had accomplices. "Persons other than Psystar are involved in Psystar's unlawful and improper activities described in this amended complaint," said Apple in a filing last year. Apple could only refer to those people, or their companies as John Does 1 through 10. Apple still has to uncover their names, according to the report.