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Court refuses request to review Psystar case
You have to give Psystar credit for being tenacious. The Mac clone company spent four years fighting Apple and took its legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court. According to a CNET report, the Supreme Court on Monday refused Psystar's request to review a lower court decision that prevents the company from selling non-Apple hardware with OS X. The decision upholds the original ruling in 2009 which said Psystar "violated Apple's exclusive reproduction right, distribution right, and right to create derivative works." Apple was awarded a permanent injunction against Psystar and the company was forced to stop selling its Mac clones. This Supreme Court rejection should put an end to litigation between the two companies.
Apple loses bid to keep information sealed in Psystar case
In its ongoing suit against unauthorized Mac clone maker Psystar, Apple has been denied in its bid to keep certain information about OS X sealed from public view. According to Bloomberg, Judge William Alsup noted that information Apple claims are "trade secrets" are already publicly available on the internet from a variety of sources. Apple attempted to claim that although this information about OS X was already publicly available, since the company itself hadn't confirmed its veracity the information still qualified for trade secret protection. Judge Alsup disagreed, saying, "Apple cannot have this court seal information merely to avoid confirmation that the publicly available sources got it right." Apple is suing Psystar for copyright infringement over Psystar producing and selling unauthorized clones of the Mac running Apple's proprietary Mac OS X software. Apple successfully obtained a sales injunction against Psystar years ago, and that injunction was recently upheld in court -- a somewhat moot point, as the company hasn't produced any hardware since 2009.
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?
Apple awarded key win over Psystar
It's been a long time since we've heard anything from Psystar, the company responsible for making unauthorized Mac clones in 2008. Apple sued the company into the bedrock due to it selling PC hardware with OS X pre-installed, a violation of Apple's OS X licensing agreement. Psystar has made numerous appeals against the permanent injunction slapped on them, with their latest appeal being filed over a year ago. According to CNET that appeal has been denied, and the permanent injunction against Psystar will be upheld. Judge Mary Schroeder ruled that Psystar's clones do indeed violate Apple's copyrights, and a ban on Psystar's sale of Mac clones will continue indefinitely. This is likely the last we'll hear on the matter unless Psystar decides to take the case to the Supreme Court -- a case it would almost certainly lose. In fact, given the Ninth Circuit's unequivocal ruling against Psystar, it's unlikely the Supreme Court would even deign to hear the case. In years past, a small but vocal minority of users has called for Apple to license the OS X operating system so they could install it on non-Apple hardware. Apple's vigorous, swift, and decisive battle against Psystar should put any hopes of such official licensing to rest once and for all. One need only look at Apple's financial statements to see that a company that makes the overwhelming majority of its profits on hardware sales stands to lose far more than it would gain if it licensed OS X to run on Mac "clones." If financial statements are too dry of a read, try history instead; Apple's decision to license the Mac OS to third-party manufacturers in the mid-1990s was a move that nearly drove the company into bankruptcy.
Apple and Psystar still battling in court
Like a league of zombies that just won't go away, Mac clone maker Psystar just keeps coming back for more punishment. In the most recent chapter of this ongoing courtroom drama, Psystar filed an Opening Brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in its request for an appeal to the permanent injunction that keeps the company from making Mac clones. Contrary to its former tactic of making all court filings open, Psystar requested that the Opening Brief be sealed. Apple, on the other hand, made its Answering Brief public and the contents were interpreted for The Mac Observer by an attorney who said that Psystar's strategy seems to be focused on "getting the court to adopt a radical revision of the Copyright Misuse doctrine that would in effect destroy copyright and force all copyrighted works to be licensed." Apple's Answering Brief noted that "Because Psystar has no proof that Apple has inhibited competition or suppressed creativity, Psystar urges this Court to abandon long-standing precedent and create a new doctrine of per se copyright misuse. Under this doctrine, any license agreement - such as Apple's SLA - that restricts the use of copyrighted software to particular hardware is per se copyright misuse." Apple also stated that "Psystar's grossly overbroad per se theory of copyright misuse would eliminate fundamental rights guaranteed by the Copyright Act -- the rights to control the reproduction, modification, and distribution of copyrighted works." The court system is unlikely to completely revamp the long-established tenets of copyright law, but the way this case seems to keep coming back from the dead, anything is possible.
Microsoft files motion to dismiss Datel suit, cites Apple and others in defense
Microsoft has registered a motion to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit originally filed by unofficial memory card maker Datel, in which Datel claimed that by locking out its cards, Microsoft was being illegally anti-competitive in the field of 'Multiplayer Online Dedicated Gaming Systems" and their accessories. Microsoft's motion to dismiss (here's the PDF link) actually cites one of its biggest rivals, Apple, who fought off another unofficial vendor by claiming that its users (us) had knowingly agreed that by using its products, any aftermarket products had to come from Apple as well. You can't run OS X on any computers not made by Apple, says Microsoft, and so you can't use any non-Microsoft memory cards on your Xbox. As with most legal filings, the situation is complicated. Datel is also trying to claim that Microsoft has a grip on the console market by claiming that the much better selling Nintendo Wii isn't actually a part of that market, which leaves Microsoft in the weird position of arguing that yes, there are plenty of consoles (including the PSP and even the PlayStation 2) that "have outsold the Xbox 360." And Microsoft also argues that Datel's cheat-enabling memory cards "undermine quality user experience" on Xbox Live, which would also be reason enough to keep them off the system. Interesting arguments, all, but we'll have to see which emerge victorious after a hearing scheduled for March 2 in San Francisco.
Psystar files one more appeal in court
They're like cockroaches! Psystar is back yet again, this time filing yet another appeal against yet another injunction by Apple telling them that they can no longer sell their unauthorized OS X PCs. As previously reported, they've been on Apple's bad legal side for a long time, and the last injunction had them down to selling t-shirts. Now, they've got only one copy left of their Rebel EFI product, and it's in the hands of the lawyers trying to keep the case open. Just as they promised, they're filing one more appeal against the far-reaching injunction to try and keep the case open... I'm as big a fan of Psystar as the next guy, and despite their complete and total losses in court, I almost want to see them keep going in a car-crash sort of way. But at this point, it's pointless -- Apple has won in every conceivable way, and Psystar is just wasting their own money and the courts' time by carrying on. It's their right to do so, of course, but this likely means that the next judge to look at the case will just lay the smack down that much harder. [via Macworld]
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's new business: selling T-shirts
Dear Psystar: just give it up already. After updating their website this weekend announcing that they are voluntarily suspending the sale of their Rebel EFI software, Psystar has decided to take another business route – selling T-shirts. Yes, for the bargain price of only $14.99 you can get your very own "I sued Psystar... and all I got was a lousy injunction" T-shirt. Oh yeah, you can also donate money to them in $20, $50, or $100 increments – you know, just because they deserve it and you have nothing better to do with your hard-earned cash. Want a T-shirt? Considering Psystar has to cease business by year's end, you better get behind the other two guys in line who are waiting to snap these gems up.
Psystar's lawyer: Psystar not done yet
Last night on the Talkcast, we talked about the big news last week that Psystar seemed to be down for the count, and the consensus was that we'd heard the last of them. But not so fast: their lawyer now says that they're not calling it quits just yet. The company that has gotten pummeled by Apple for selling Mac clones apparently "does not intend to shut down permanently," according to K. A. D. Camera of legal firm Camera & Sibley. According to him, they're still working on selling their Rebel EFI product (also currently entangled in legal problems), and they're planning on pushing forward on their antitrust case against Apple (which has already been thrown out once). We're not sure where they'll get the money for all of this legal action after already being ordered to give a couple million dollars to Apple, but maybe those 768 computers they sold made more than we thought. There is one bright point in all of this: while Rebel EFI is still listed as out of stock on their website, they are selling official Psystar t-shirts for $15 which they say will also include a Rebel EFI authorization code later on and now those appear to be gone too! I don't know about you (and I don't really want to give these guys any credit card information), but one of those shirts would look great sitting under my tree later this week. If this whole installing-OS X-on-unauthorized-hardware-in-violation-of-Apple's-EULA thing doesn't work out for Psystar, maybe they can have a second life as a merch vendor.
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?
Psystar shuts down
After Apple's sweeping permanent injunction, Psystar has officially ceased operations. The company's CEO Rudy Pedraza told the Dow Jones Newswire last night that he is "shutting things down immediately." The company has also released its eight employees, and shuttered its website last night. The actions came after Apple's permanent injunction against Psystar earlier this week, which gave Psystar until December 31st to stop selling its Mac clones. The clones violated Apple's End User License Agreement for Mac OS X, which expressly forbids use of the operating system on non-Apple hardware. This also marks the end of Psystar's Rebel EFI software, which had been Psystar's only viable product since early December. Many Psystar watchers doubted if Psystar would continue to sell it. Psystar first started selling its computers in April 2008, and Apple filed a lawsuit soon after in July 2008. The company was granted a motion against Psystar to stop selling its computers, preinstalled with Mac OS X, by Judge William Alsup in November. Psystar paid Apple a $2.7 million settlement earlier this month, which included $1,337,500 in copyright infringement damages. [AppleInsider] Update: The Psystar website appears to be back online at the moment, but isn't currently selling any Mac clones or any licenses to Rebel EFI, but Rebel EFI is listed as "Out of Stock."
Psystar banned from copying any version of OS X, helping others install it
And it's all over, folks: The US District Court for the Northern District of California has just permanently forbidden wannbe Mac cloner Psystar from selling modified versions of OS X, providing any tools that enable users to bypass the OS X kernel encryption, and / or intentionally aiding anyone else from infringing Apple's OS X copyrights in any way. We knew this was coming following Apple's decisive victory against Psystar last month -- the only open questions were whether the court would include Snow Leopard and Psytar's Rebel EFI software in the ban, since the lawsuit was specifically about Leopard and Rebel EFI wasn't the subject of any proceedings. Both issues were predictably resolved in favor of Apple: the court specifically included Snow Leopard and any future versions of OS X in the scope of the injunction, and while Judge Alsup couldn't address Rebel EFI directly, he did expressly forbid Psystar from "manufacturing, importing, offering to the public, providing, or otherwise trafficking" in anything that circumvents Apple's OS X hardware locks -- which we'd say covers Rebel EFI's functionality pretty thoroughly. Psystar has until December 31 to comply, and the Judge Alsup isn't kidding around: "Defendant must immediately begin this process, and take the quickest path to compliance; thus, if compliance can be achieved within one hour after this order is filed, defendant shall reasonably see it done." Psystar can still appeal, obviously, but it's already got its own hefty legal bills and a $2.67m fine to pay to Apple, so we've got a feeling this one might have reached the end of the line. P.S.- Amusingly, Judge Alsup appears to be pretty sick of Apple's shenanigans as well: in the section discussing Snow Leopard, he says Apple first tried to block any discovery of Snow Leopard before the OS was released, and then pushed to include the software in the case after it launched. That's why the Florida case over Snow Leopard wasn't merged into this case -- Alsup thought it was a "slick tactic" that "smacked of trying to 'have it both ways,' and offended [his] sense of fair play." Ouch.
So long, Psystar - permanent injunction halts Mac clone biz
What ride, eh? In what may have provided more blog fodder than a golfer hitting a tree, the end may have finally come for the storied life of Pystar's Mac clone business. AppleInsider, Gizmodo and The Loop are reporting U.S. District Judge William Alsup just put the smackdown on Psystar's selling of derivative works of OS X, doing anything to circumvent several things -- all of which wind up putting OS X on your non-Apple hardware. Still no ruling on the Rebel EFI software. Bottom line: Psystar has until December 31, 2009 to stop selling Mac clones forever. Word is they have already started to comply.
Psystar's Mac clones all sold out
It didn't take long, but it seems that sometime in the night, following their agreement with Apple, Psystar has mysteriously run out of stock on all of their Mac clones. Apparently their settlement with Apple on the order of $2,000,000USD has caused them to accept defeat. Given that they only sold 768 clones over the course of the past two years, I don't imagine the inability to sell their hardware will have much of an impact on their financial statements. Down but not out, however, Psystar is still selling its Rebel EFI product which is used to circumvent OS X's EFI requirements for installation. In other words, it aims to make it dead simple to install Snow Leopard on any PC. Psystar's basis for continuing to sell Rebel EFI is that it was not included as part of the original case in San Francisco. Even though another major chapter in the Apple v. Psystar battle has come to a close, it looks like Apple has some more work to do in Florida in order to stamp out the Rebel fires and finally squash this little bug of a company. Remember that Psystar is suing Apple in its native state Florida and in this case the issue of Rebel's legality/legitimacy is likely to come up. Psystar may be circling the drain, but they're not done kicking yet.
Apple dings Psystar for $2.67m, round two heads to Florida
It looks like the first phase of the Apple / Psystar Mac cloning saga is winding towards a conclusion, as the two sides have just filed to wrap up their case with the California court that ruled decisively in favor of Apple last month. As you probably expect, Apple hasn't ceded much ground here: Psystar's agreed to be deemed liable for illegally copying OS X Leopard, bypassing the OS X kernel encryption in violation of the DMCA, and breaching Apple's EULA, all to the tune of $2,675,050. In return, Apple's dropping its various trademark and unfair competition claims, and has promised to hold off on collecting any cash until the various appeals have run their course. Now, considering Apple and Psystar are currently engaged in pretty much the exact same case in Florida over Snow Leopard, we'd say that this agreement isn't much more than a way for both sides to save money and move on to that fight: Apple's already won the bulk of its case against Psystar in California, and spending money to litigate trademark claims we thought were weak when we first read them doesn't really buy Steve any leverage he doesn't already have, while Psystar probably needs to scrimp all the coin it can. There's one other little wrinkle here, and that's exactly what Apple's eventually going to be able to prevent Psystar from doing. It's certain that the California court will bar Psystar from preloading machines with Leopard, but Psystar's arguing that its new Rebel EFI software shouldn't be covered by any decision, since it wasn't part of the case. That's an interesting argument and definitely worth some consideration -- but it's got some holes in it since Psystar's now admitted that it's liable for contributory and induced copyright infringement and violating the DMCA. As we've said before, Psystar's essentially doing with Rebel EFI what Grokster got smacked by the Supreme Court for doing in 2005: it's trying to build a business around the knowing copyright infringement of customers, and that usually doesn't fly. We'll see what happens -- and Florida awaits.
Apple, Psystar reach partial settlement
Details are still sketchy, but apparently Apple and Psystar have reached partial settlement in the ongoing saga between the two companies. It appears that in return for paying Apple unspecified damages on its copyright claims (most of which were ruled in Apple's favor in a summary judgment motion last month), Apple will drop its remaining claims against Psystar, including those for trademark violation. Apple also agreed not to execute on those damages until all appeals have been exhausted. A more detailed document is due to be filed later, but the idea is that the matters before the court will be reduced to only the issue of permanent injunction, a motion Apple filed last week. If the court accepts the terms of the settlement, there will be no need for a trial. Psystar appears to completely concede (though it's not like it had any further leg to stand on) copyright violation, by arguing that whatever the court decides to do with the permanent injunction barring sale of its computers with OS X pre-installed, that it not extend such an injunction to Psystar's Rebel EFI software product. The Rebel EFI software product does not come with its own copy of Mac OS X or any particular hardware product, but permits installation of Mac OS X on an "unauthorized" computer. Apple's motion for permanent injunction specifically mentions the Rebel EFI product as evidence of Psystar's ongoing attempts to infringe and circumvent Apple's software restrictions. Of course, the Rebel EFI software is the subject of the ongoing Florida litigation, so certain elements are beginning to dovetail together. Apple, for its part, would like both lawsuits to come together. My guess is that Apple is more interested in the outcome of the permanent injunction than damages. It's not even clear if Psystar could hope to pay Apple any significant money, since Psystar filed for bankruptcy last May, and recent information indicates that Psystar only has sales of 768 units thus far. UPDATE: The filing is in and the stipulated damages are.....$2,675,000 against Psystar. [Via Engadget.] Half is on the merits of the legal claims, and the other half for punitive damages such as attorneys fees and costs. The parties are agreeing to enter judgment against Psystar on not only the copyright violation claims, but also with regard to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Breach of Contract.
Psystar's predictions... they're a bit off
More and more information is coming out about Psystar and their legal issues with Apple. Some new documents have been leaked with some numbers and predictions from Psystar themselves. According to these documents, the company planned on selling 1.45 million Mac clone computers by 2011. The actual number sold so far: 768. What's even better is that these numbers are their "conservative" estimates. If you take a look at their more aggressive numbers, Psystar plans to sell 12 million by the end of 2012. Yes, you read that correctly: 12 million. With the legal issues still ramping up, we can only expect to see even more (comical) news coming from the failed Mac clone company. Psystar even has gone so far as to say the battle is only helping them, keeping other clone makers from entering the market to "avoid the mess." [via Gizmodo]
Talkcast tonight: Inside the Psystar summary judgement
We're back tonight after an unexpected week off due to a headcold, and we're diving into the Psystar summary judgment with Lauren to sort out the difference between a copyright, a EULA, and a bright shiny object. We'll be live at 10 pm ET, so call on in. To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!
