Apple Sues Psystar; Citing copyright infringement, trademark violation, and more
By Opal Tribble
We knew it would eventually happen, Apple was going to eventually take action against Psystar. The question was when. On July 3, 2008 Apple filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California. The suit alleges counts for violation of its shrink wrap license, trademark, and copyright infringement. Also in the complaint Apple alleges that Psystar has offered Leopard updates at its website “that are either direct copies of Apple-generated updates and/or unauthorized modified versions of software updates from Apple.”
This past April Psystar began selling its low priced Open Computer for $399. Although this is a tempting option for those looking for a low cost alternative to the higher priced Macs offered by Apple, it’s clearly a violation of Apple’s licensing agreement. Psystar didn’t have Apple’s consent to do this. You aren’t allowed to run Mac OS X on any non-apple hardware. Apple states this clearly on the install disc packaging.
It’s not like Psystar didn’t know about this agreement. Psystar owners and managers have admitted in public statements that they are aware of the existence of the Apple software license agreement. In fact, some have taunted Apple to do something about it. “What if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?” said a Psystar employee. The employee, who would only identify himself as Robert, said Apple grossly overcharges for the hardware on which its operating systems, including Leopard, come preinstalled.
Apple does not license Mac OX to be used with other platforms. This goes well past a simple breach the EULA agreement. Psystar through its own admission has modified Apple’s copyrighted work and then chose to distribute it without license for commercial purposes. As if that wasn’t enough the company used at least one Apple trademark in its marketing.
Obviously Psystar thought it had gotten over on Apple. Psystar continued to push its luck. In June it released a server version of its computer which offered a hacked version of the Mac OS X server. Psystar originally called its computer the OpenMac but changed it to the Open Computer a day after it was released.
With this upcoming lawsuit it’s obvious that Apple has been keeping a close eye on Psystar all along. Was anyone surprised? I know I wasn’t. Apple is obviously tired of sitting back and watching Psystar blatantly violate its licensing terms. Psystar had plenty of rope. The question is, was it enough to hang itself? Time to pull out the popcorn it will be interesting to see what happens with this case.
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July 17th, 2008
I’m actually kind of glad this happened. It gives a bit more hope that the OSX86 project will keep it’s nudge, nudge, wink,wink status from Apple to expose people who were never going to buy a Mac anyway to the system. Psystar did the equivalent of trying to pull down Jobs pants in the city square at noon.