EugeneAction
Latest
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 files official notice of appeal, ruthlessly attacks windmill
We're still not clear on whether Psystar is still in business, or if it's selling anything other than T-shirts, but the would-be Mac cloner isn't totally out of the game yet: it's filed an official notice of appeal in the California court, which means it's going to try and fight that decisive victory and injunction won by Apple a month ago. Just based on the simple open-and-shut legal reasoning involved in the decision -- surprise, you can't copy, modify, and resell a copyrighted work without permission -- we'd say this appeal is a long shot, but we didn't go to Harvard Law School like Psystar attorney Eugene Action. Man, we missed that guy. Let's quote from his website again, shall we? The matrix is born and the energy sucking machine herds Americans into pods of predetermined limitations. Forced programming on your computer is just one of the provisional patents looming against freedom and democracy. Capitalism spurring innovation and creativity through open and competitive markets is at risk on this new frontier. This new battle is being fought on the abstract electronic plains of America while most of us cannot even open our email. The beachheads are red with the blood of ambitious Americans gunned down for their initiative. Let's be honest: we never, ever, want this story to end. P.S. -- Wondering why Rebel EFI is listed as "out of stock" on the Psystar website? It's because there isn't any stock, shockingly enough -- in a statement filed with the court on December 31, Rudy Pedraza says all copies of the bootloader have been destroyed except for one that's in the possession of his attorneys. Between this appeal and the pending case in Florida over Snow Leopard, we'd say that means it'll be a long time before the software is back on the scene -- enough time for the legit OSx86 scene to leapfrog it entirely.
Psystar still in business, or not in business, or... something
Psystar's attorneys have had some truly bumbling moments in the past year or so, and the hits keep coming: now they're disagreeing over whether or not the would-be Mac cloner is out of business. Lead law firm Camara & Sibley is now denying yesterday's Dow Jones report, which quoted Psystar's California counsel Eugene Action as saying the company would be shutting down "immediately," and insists that the company is still is business selling Rebel EFI. That would be the end of the story for now... except it's not true. Although Psystar's site still offers the software for download, it's listed as "out of stock," and you can't buy a license. What's more, Psystar was just ordered by the California court to stop helping anyone install OS X and warned that it continued to sell Rebel EFI "at its peril," so it'd be pretty ballsy to offer it for sale once again. Camara & Sibley also says it's going to appeal the California decision while it presses forward with the second lawsuit in Florida, but we've seriously got to wonder who's going to pay all these bills -- Psystar is already on the hook for $2.67 million in fines to Apple, and appeals and a second round of litigation don't come cheap. We'll see what happens next, but we can't say we're too surprised that the end of Psystar's story is as shady as its start. P.S.- Eugene Action might be the single best thing to come out of this whole mess -- his website, located at (seriously) myharvardlawyer.us, is a treasure trove of embarrassing hilarity. Choice unedited quote: I Graduated from Harvard Law School in Cambridge Massachusetts. If you have not heard of Harvard Law school, welcome to planet earth and enjoy your visit. Well, we're certainly impressed -- too bad that fancy degree didn't help Psystar win its case, though.
Psystar to shut down 'immediately,' world shrugs
Has the saga finally come to an end? Dow Jones is reporting that Psystar will be firing its eight employees and then "shutting things down immediately," in the words of the company's attorney with the bad-ass name, Eugene Action. Besides, after the latest round of losses at the hands of Apple, this should come as a shock to nobody. Now that we've put all that behind us, can we concentrate on something of importance -- like Tweeting swears from the Zune HD Twitter app?
