Psystar wins a round against Apple
Accused Apple clone-maker Psystar Corporation won a round in court. The judge in the case handed down a number of rulings in Psystar’s favor last week.
The main win of the week came when U.S. District Court Judge William Allsup decided that Psystar can continue its countersuit against Apple, although in a modified manner. Apple had sought to have the judge quell the countersuit. The judge instructed Psystar to make changes in their countersuit and refile. The changes would essentially morph the countercharge that Apple had broken antitrust laws into charges that it has stretched copyright law by tying OS X specifically to Apple hardware, according to a story by ComputerWorld.
Judge Allsup had previously rejected Psystar’s antitrust argument, last November, but commented in that decision that the court might accept a modified complaint. Psystar filed a reformulated claim in December of last year. Apple immediately sought to have that claim rejected, saying, “(it) attempts to repackage its dismissed antitrust allegations under the guise of copyright misuse.”
Allsup disagreed, saying in his new ruling. “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. … Moreover, if established, misuse would bar enforcement (for the period of misuse) not only as to defendants who are actually party to the challenged license but also as to potential defendants not themselves injured by the misuse who may have similar interests.” This section broadly hints that if Psystar proves its allegations, others may then be free to sell computers with Mac OS X already installed.
As it currently stands, the two companies are set to appear in court to begin trial on Nov. 9 of this year, almost a year and a half after Apple commenced legal actions against Psystar. The judge, and undoubtedly Apple, are seeing the wider ramifications of these lawsuits. In the unlikely event of a Psystar victory, it appears that Apple would have to deal with a veritable plethora of clonemakers instead of just one.
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