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Psystar Meets Apple in Court in October

Apple demanded the case be placed before a regular district court judge

By Filip Truta, Apple News Editor

25th of July 2008, 10:32 GMT

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Psystar advertises its OpenComputer as a broadener of horizons
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InformationWeek is reporting that Apple's attorneys will meet with Psystar's legal representatives in October. Apple had a few extra requests to make, such as wanting the suit placed before a regular district court judge, not a magistrate judge.

"Attorneys for Apple and Mac clone maker Psystar will meet for the first time before a judge in October to discuss terms and procedures for Apple's copyright lawsuit against Psystar," the source notes, citing court records. 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 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, which is in direct violation with said EULA.

"We take it very seriously when we believe people have stolen our intellectual property," said an Apple spokesperson just after the filing of the suit. Apple demanded that Psystar not only stopped selling its Mac clones, but also that it recalled all sold units, something even Apple may have a hard time convincing the judge to rule in favor of.

Psystar upholds that its systems cost around a quarter to half of what Apple computers go for. The company is planning to use this against Apple in court, claiming the Cupertino-based Mac maker marks up the cost of the OS X-running hardware by as much as 80 percent. Psystar also believes that, by forcing people to run OS X on its proprietary hardware, Apple is violating antitrust laws. Then again, Apple's EULA is likely to have a higher resonance than Psystar's allegations.

According to an older Macworld piece, a Psystar employee actually stated that Apple's terms violate U.S. monopoly laws, adding that the Cupertino-based company "grossly overcharges for its hardware." These claims alone might not suffice to fight off Apple's charges of Copyright infringement, Contributory and induced copyright infringement, Trade dress infringement, or Trademark dilution (and others), let alone the fact that Psystar actually went on with replicating the Server version of Apple's OS X Leopard. Nevertheless, it is believed that the market will be invaded with Mac clones soon after the case is closed, should Psystar make a good point in court.

Feel free to place your bets in the comments. What do you think will stand in court later this year: Apple's EULA or Psystar's somewhat "moral"-founded allegations?

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Psystar | lawsuit | legal | EULA | EFI emulator
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Comment #1 by: Thomas Zickell II on 23 Oct 2008, 07:49 GMT reply to this comment

Apple's EULA is a rock & I hope that Psystar is forced to not only stop selling its Mac clones, but also that it recalled all sold units. This would be far different if Psystar had not known just what it was doing before it hit the install Apple OS X button but far worse "Psystar 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, which is in direct violation with said EULA." by using what Apple spent their time & money on just to get to where they can hit that button. I am my self not rich but I have learned from watching my fathers company loose so much over intellectual property being stolen. I know Apple is not a US monopoly look at there 8% of the PC sales & where was Psystar when Apple was running more costly PowerPC computers they could have bought PowerPC CPU's & OS X then but now that Mac's have-are getting more popular they copy not only what I think they want people to think is S. Job's other company Pixar films the name Psystar & Pixar seams like a deliberate way of tricking people into thinking Job's owen Pixar maybe he made a line of computers with that name deliberate why to confuse or make people think that the name Psystar is just a Pixar computer from the same company that is Apple & not a company which is in direct violation with Apples EULA that has never came up with an Idea other then to steal what took allot of men & women Apple have thought of and made. This is not a mistake to me this is why people who know what there doing before hand get murder one & people that play apart without 100% intent malice aforethought, This is killing Apple with intent, malice and planed ahead of time. I think that Apple needed to recover the money it cost to move from IBM PowerPC to Intel like I said Psystar never made PowerPC Mac Clones. I hope Apple wins this lawsuit big very big. It could be said that if "Psystar also believes that, by forcing people to run OS X on its proprietary hardware, Apple is violating antitrust laws" That Psystar is forcing people who want a 100% Open Computer by being the only to sell it, Psystar upholds that its systems cost around a quarter to half of what Apple computers go for. The company is planning to use this against Apple in court. Well, Psystar is not even close to the quality of Apple. Psystar is using junk parts without the design benefits of any of Apple computers. On top of this they want Apple to warranty there computer because OS X has a warranty only that it is gone when used for Clone's I hope that there found guilty as this is a crime. Any one who wants a Mac that might be low on money like a hi school or College Student even home schooled kid’s & there teachers get 25% off. When it comes to top of the line hard to buy or pay for Workstation class computers. System Shootouts did a great cost comparison with Dell Computers known for “Low Prices on Powerful Desktops! ' As a result, the Apple system includes the $699 20" Cinema Display, while the Dell only includes the tower. For an alternate comparison, remove the Cinema Display, add Apple's AppleCare warranty (3 years of both hardware & software support) for $249, and you're still left with a $450 price advantage for the Mac Pro. Both Dell & Apple have 2x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon both ram 4.0 MB per Both Front Side Bus: 2x 1.33GHz, 64-bit dual buses.

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