Summary judgements bite PsyStar hard
Both the hackintosh maker and Apple had requested summary judgements from the bench, a risky move that could have delivered a stinging rebuke and lopsided defeat to either side. Nevertheless, it was the Cupertino, California-based Mac, iPod and iPhone that prevailed with the judge coming down against the illegal cloner on nearly every charge — a likely death blow.
BusinessWeek reports that U.S. federal Judge William Alsup has issued summary judgement that all but dooms the Miami, Florida-based hackintosh maker. The court ruled that PsyStar not only violated Apple’s copyright, but also the Digital Millenium Copyright Act while denying all of the cloner’s claims.
The court has scheduled a hearing on remedies for Dec. 14 and, although not all of the outstanding issues have been settled by these summary judgments against PsyStar, there’s a pretty good chance that the cloner will soon be little more than the memory of a bad smell — nothing so strong that a judicious application of Lysol can’t cure.
Psystar just got what’s coming to them in the California case. Here’s the order [PDF]. It’s a total massacre. Psystar’s first-sale defense went down in flames. Apple’s motion for summary judgment on copyright infringement and DMCA violation is granted. Apple prevailed also on its motion to seal”—Groklaw
The precedent now firmly established, Apple will likely quickly move to kill off the other cloners, including Quo Computer (Los Angeles), PearC (Germany) and RussianMac.
Death to the cloners (long live the hackintosh)!
Thereupon, it’s a pity that Apple can’t see the wisdom of letting users, i.e. netbook hackintosh using users, do as they wish with their property. Granted, the great majority of these folks are strong in the ways of force and don’t need Cupertino’s consent or assistance, yet t’would be good to know that Steve not only remembers but also loves and honors the Captain Crunch whistle and blue box of his misbegotten youth.
Arr, we’ll run up the jolly roger over 1 Infinite Loop once again…
What’s your take?
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November 15th, 2009
I’m glad to see a company like Psystar go down, but don’t believe that Apple has won the clone war. Some countries have already ruled that the provision in Apple’s EULA to only use OS X on an Apple branded computer is unenforceable. I suspect the only thing this will really accomplish is the relocation of Mac cloners to such countries. From there, others who like OS X but not belonging to marginware cults will purchase their computers.
November 15th, 2009
Apple will just need to create stronger measures to insure that Mac OS X runs only on Apple hardware.
This includes doing extensive hardware checking for compatibility, using exclusive, custom, proprietary hardware that exist on no other computer, using checks via the internet, using stronger encryption which will use the DMCA as a weapon (which the US wants to intall globally), etc. etc.
November 15th, 2009
@ James Katt
Agreed… and we will all be the poorer for Psystars illegal moves. They have removed the ‘trust’ element implicit in using Macs and the OS that has been a hallmark of Apple’s business since their early days.
I suspect that custom chips will make a return, enabling the OS to run in ‘Turbo’ mode only on a certified Mac, but in standard mode on a hackintosh.
November 16th, 2009
Apple’s use of custom chips will allow Mac OS X to only run on Macs.
Currently, for example, Mac OS X 10.6.2, checks for the CPU and will not run on Intel Atom CPUs.
Apple uses custom Intel CPUs. For example, Apple’s CPUs all can run virtualized operating systems. This is a high level feature that not every manufacturer will pay for. Thus, it is easy for Apple to check that the CPU does virtualization to make sure it is more likely a real Mac that is running Mac OS X.
Apple will use more and more significant digital rights management processes to make sure Mac OS X runs only on Apple hardware. This is well within its rights.