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Psystar loses appeal in battle with Apple, told to ditch Mac clones for-ev-ver
We're sure Psystar, its lawyers and its tens of fans, didn't really expect to win the appeal it filed following the permanent injunction handed down against its commercial hackintoshes, but you can't blame the company for trying. A little over three years after the drama began, with Apple suing to ban Psystar's products, it seems the epic tale has come to an end. The company hasn't really been in business since December of '09 anyway, so today's ruling upholding the injunction won't make much of a difference either way. We're just sad that this may, in fact, be the last time we ever hear from Eugene Action -- let's take a moment to reminisce, shall we?
Psystar releases Rebel EFI installer, further enrages Apple
When not flying the Hackintosh banner, filing lawsuits, or generally positioning themselves as the gadfly on the ass of Apple, the kids at Psystar have been hard at work developing the software meant to free us all from the iron grip of Cupertino-approved hardware. And now, a mere two weeks since the company announced that it will be licensing its Darwin Universal Boot Loader to third parties, we submit for your approval a little something called Rebel EFI. Available to you -- the consumer -- right this very moment, the app will function as a universal installer for any modern OS -- provided your machine sports an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7 or Xeon Nehalem processor. And of course, "any modern OS" includes Snow Leopard. What are you waiting for? Download the trial version for free (limited functionality, runtime of two hours) or download the full deal for the introductory price of $50 (full retail is $90). [Via iHackintosh]
Psystar licenses Darwin Universal Boot Loader to third parties, chaos ensues
Like the proverbial kid brother, Psystar has amused us for years now, following Apple around, mocking it, claiming some sort of moral high ground for its Open Macs. Now, hot on the heels of Snow Leopard, the company is back with yet another ambitious project. For a fee, Psystar will license you its Darwin Universal Boot Loader (providing you're an OEM). By shipping machines with the DUBL pre-installed yet relying on the consumer to install his own Snow Leopard disk (which he obtained legally, of course) you should theoretically be able to avoid any sort of sticky legal situation of the sort that has dogged Psystar for years. If that weren't enough, the boot loader supports up to six different operating systems per machine and apparently configures itself, ahem, "automagicly." Is this the last nail in the coffin, the final puzzle piece that will bring us a world where third party machines running OS X fly off the shelves with abandon? Somehow, we doubt it. But it would be amusing to buy a computer with a "Psystar Certified" sticker next to the one that says "Intel Inside." Your move, Apple. PR after the break. [Via Apple Insider]
Psystar's antitrust claims against Apple dismissed
Well, we can't say we didn't see this coming -- Judge William Alsup in the federal Northern District of California today dismissed Psystar's antitrust counterclaims in Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit against the wannabe Mac cloner. According to the judge, Psystar's hotshot legal team failed to provide facts "plausibly supporting the counterintuitive claim that Apple's operating system is so unique that it suffers no actual or potential competitors." Not only that, but the judge also found that Psystar actually contradicted itself in pointing out that Apple has to advertise heavily to promote OS X against competing operating systems that perform the same tasks, and that Apple is "certainly entitled" to ask its customers to only use OS X on Apple machines. Yeah, that's a smackdown. Psystar has until December 18th to amend its complaint and try these arguments again, but we can't say we think it's got a shot in hell here -- and something tells us that that court-mandated alternative dispute resolution process isn't going to get very far in Psystar's favor either.Disclaimer: Nilay's a lawyer and sells bootleg OSx86 machines out the back of his van, but he's not your lawyer and this isn't legal advice.[Via Macrumors]
Apple demands Psystar recall Mac clones
We noted yesterday that the Mac clone maker, Psystar, was sued by Apple for copyright infringement, among other things. According to a recent ZDNet post, Apple wants Psystar to recall all of the Mac clones sold since April. "Psystar's actions have been committed with intent to damage Apple and to confuse and deceive the public," Apple claims. "As a direct and proximate result of Psystar's infringing conduct, Apple has suffered and will continue to suffer lost sales and profits in an amount not yet fully ascertained in an amount to be proven at trial," Apple notes. I really don't see how Psystar will be able to recover all of the Mac clones sold since April. But, if you bought one, would you send it back? I certainly wouldn't. Engadget, our sister blog, is also looking deeply into this high-profile lawsuit. They take a look at what each allegation means for both Apple and Psystar.
Apple's lawsuit against Psystar examined
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.
Psystar says it's shipping Open Computers, anyone get a tracking number?
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 processorRead - ZDNet article on Psystar's address
Psystar says rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated, still selling Open Computers
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 ProRead - Information Week ("Psystar vows to challenge Apple EULA")Read - DailyTech: ("Apple Kills Psystar's $399 Mac")
Psystar site goes down under load, Apple lawyers seen shopping for BMWs
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.
Psystar's OpenMac Apple clone is close to a Cease and Desist order
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]
