So we just got our hands on the complaint Apple filed against Psystar for building off-label Mac clones, and as expected, Steve and friends aren't pulling any punches -- in addition to the eight total claims, request for a permanent injunction, and money damages, Apple wants a recall of every Psystar machine ever sold. That's harsh, but it's not like Apple to take this lightly. Like we've been saying all along, the suit is more about copyright infringement than EULA violations, since Psystar was distributing a modified version of Apple's copyrighted code outside the terms of the EULA. Grab the complaint here [PDF], and then head after the break for a quick breakdown of what Apple says Psystar is liable for.

PS. - Somewhat charmingly, we're quoted in the factual allegations section as calling the Psystar machine we reviewed "crazy loud" -- aww, you shouldn't have, guys. Maybe you want to throw in a citation next time, though? Just a thought.

It's been a pretty hectic few days for wannabe Mac cloner Psystar -- its former credit card processor shut off its account when it learned what it was trying to sell, no one could figure out the company's true address, and company president Rudy Pedraza still has the disconcerting habit of not answering any questions and promising to call everyone back with a formal statement that's never arrived. Still, the company posted up a blurb today saying it's gotten a new credit card processor and that Open Computers are now being shipped in the order purchases were made. Of course, Rudy's been promising us a test machine since day one, so we're curious to see if he follows through -- has anyone gotten a tracking number? Anyone have their credit cards charged? Let us know.

Read - Psystar: "Store up and running"
Read - News.com article about Psystar's former credit card processor
Read - ZDNet article on Psystar's address

So the rumors swirling around would-be Mac clone maker Psystar are getting pretty wild out there -- we've heard everything from "Apple has shut the company down" to "Psystar is going to challenge Apple's EULA in court" in the vacuum following the company's site meltdown yesterday. That's a big spread, so we hit up Psystar's president Rudy Pedraza for some answers. Rudy was relatively cagey on the phone, refusing to answer any questions about Apple's EULA or copyrights -- or even confirm if Apple has talked with the company -- but he told us that he's got a "team" of people working on an official response and that the Open Computer (and the new quad-core Open Pro, pictured above) are still for sale. What's more, he told us that "a few" orders placed before yesterday's flood of interest have shipped, which means we're curious to see if any of these early adopters actually surface in the next few days. Rudy also told us that Psystar isn't out to infringe any copyrights or trademarks (really?), and that he has no idea how Information Week got a quote from someone named "Robert" indicating that the company was going to challenge Apple's EULA in court. Sure thing. Rudy promised us a machine either today or tomorrow, we'll see what happens -- honestly, it seems like things are chaos at Psystar's HQ in Miami right now.

P.S. -Remember MGM v. Grokster? In that case the Supreme Court ruled that a company that based its business around the knowing copyright infringement of customers was still liable, even if it didn't infringe directly. Kinda shoots a hole in the "just don't pre-install Leopard" theory, no?

Read - Psystar Open Pro
Read - Information Week ("Psystar vows to challenge Apple EULA")
Read - DailyTech: ("Apple Kills Psystar's $399 Mac")

Psystar's offer to build off-license OSx86 OpenMac clones was apparently pretty popular -- we saw a note from the company saying it was trying hard to cope with the rush of traffic, but it looks like things got overwhelming, and the site is now unavailable. People are speculating that Apple already shut things down, but that's pretty unlikely: nothing on the Psystar site infringed any of Apple's IP (as far as we can recall) and the company hadn't actually sold anything yet, which means there isn't much of anything for Apple to go to court over. On top of that, we doubt that Psystar wasn't expecting to attract Apple's attention, so we don't think a cease and desist letter would scare the company into shutting things completely down. Of course, we're still willing to bet that Apple's legal team is licking their chops in anticipation of something actionable happening, but we'd say the most interesting thing about this so far is the incredible amount of attention a low-cost expandable minitower running OS X has gotten -- maybe someone at Apple apart from the lawyers should be taking notes as well.

Update: They're back! They've changed the name to "Open Computer," which should totally throw off Apple's lawyers. Or... probably won't.

If you're not brave enough to OSx86 your own PC, psystar will sell you its OpenMac clone for $400. For that price you get 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo E4500 processor, 2GB of memory, integrated GMA 950 graphics, 250GB disk and 20x DVD burner. Add another $155 and they'll even install Leopard on the non-Apple kit with the help of an EFI V8 emulator. Even at $555 it's still a spec-for-spec bargain compared to the Mac mini (albeit without the mini dimensions). If interested you'd better snap one up quick. Jobs, you'll recall, put a swift end to official Mac-clone licensing when he resumed power at Apple. No reason to think that he (or his lawyers) feel any differently now.

[Thanks, Roberto]