Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware
Psystar countersues Apple
The Psystar saga continues. Back in April, Psystar went public with the first commercial Hackintosh clones. For US$554, they'd send you a Core 2 Duo minitower with Mac OS X preinstalled. In June, they released rack-mount servers with Leopard Server preinstalled in both 1U (starting $1599) and 2U (starting $1999) configurations. Last July, the inevitable happened and Apple filed a lawsuit against Psystar citing copyright infringement, and demanded that they recall all machines. Psystar responded by acquiring legal representation from Carr & Ferrell, who previously settled with Apple in another case.
Still with us? Good. This week, Psystar seems to be preparing to countersue Apple, citing anticompetitive business practices. Specifically, the suit alleges that Apple's practice of restricting OS X to Apple hardware is "...an anticompetitive restraint of trade."
We think that's a stretch, but this story sure is fun to follow. We'll keep you updated as soon as anything changes. If you want a claim-by-claim breakdown of Apple's suit against Psystar, check out Nilay Patel's full accounting over at Engadget.
[Via Electronista]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jash Sayani said 7:38AM on 8-27-2008
Cool. Leopard EULA is about to be void !
Reply
krizoitz said 2:23PM on 8-27-2008
Despite that fact that both California and Florida courts have repeatedly upheld EULA's in the past? Or despite the fact that Apple isn't a monopoly under anti-trust law? Well sure, if you ignore reality i guess it will be...
HB said 7:43AM on 8-27-2008
It will be interesting to see what the EU's competition commission make of this one. I think it would be hard to indicate that Apple have a monopoly on the computing industry but it depends how widely they construe the "market" that Apple is operating in. Seems highly unlikely that the action will succeed, but hey.
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Jon said 7:57AM on 8-27-2008
They will ship OS X without iTunes... lol
David said 7:59AM on 8-27-2008
Sure they have a monopoly. They have a lock on the uber cool, user friendly, and virus free computing environment.
Is everyone saying that the people who can only afford the $399 computer at Walmart must suffer from the Windows Malware malady and the stigma of owning Microsoft?
Break the monopoly ;-)
Psystar FTW!
punkassjim said 1:32PM on 8-27-2008
It seems someone doesn't understand what the word "monopoly" means.
Besides, the whole idea of a counter-suit based around "fighting anti-competitive practices" is complete horseshit. No amount of screaming "I WANT TO SELL YOUR STUFF, YOU HAVE TO LET ME SELL YOUR STUFF" will make it ok that they broke rules. In order to sell the Mac OS (with or without a computer), you either need to license the OS from them, or you need to set up a sales agreement with the vendor (like, say, Amazon did).
I'm gonna be supremely disappointed if any court ever upholds a case like this. It's like awarding McDonalds the right to sell Burger King's burgers. The whole concept is beyond retarded.
chad said 11:10AM on 8-29-2008
@punkassjim
The California courts would certainly disagree with you about reselling software. They have overwhelming found that EULAs are not enforceable. Just ask Adobe.
Ryan Trevisol said 8:44AM on 8-27-2008
Hmmm, if this goes through, I might keep my dell.
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punkassjim said 1:40PM on 8-27-2008
@james — yes, yes you can. But if you mass-produce such a hybrid car, and sell them commercially from your incorporated business, you had better be prepared for BMW's legal team.
You think Tesla Motors is doing their thing without asking Lotus for permission? Come on.
Jgreen said 8:48AM on 8-27-2008
Imagine someone trying to build BMWs, other than BMW. They wouldn't get away with it. It's extraordinary that Psystar think they can essentially build Macs wilthout Apples consent.
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Simon Arch said 10:48AM on 8-27-2008
But they're not building Macs. They're building bog-standard PCs which can run MacOS X.
james said 11:33AM on 8-27-2008
but i can fit a BMW engine into any car i want if i'm savvy enough.
punkassjim said 1:37PM on 8-27-2008
@Simon Arch — actually, they're not selling "bog-standard PCs which can run MacOS X." They're selling "bog-standard PCs which HAVE MAC OS X PRE-INSTALLED." This is the type of nuance that will win or lose a court case. So, be specific.
punkassjim said 1:42PM on 8-27-2008
@james — yes, yes you can. But if you mass-produce such a hybrid car, and sell them commercially from your incorporated business, you had better be prepared for BMW's legal team.
You think Tesla Motors is doing their thing without asking Lotus for permission? Come on.
Topher said 8:51AM on 8-27-2008
This is ridiculous.
Are sony and microsoft being anticompetitive by restricting the PS3 and 360 OS's to their own hardware? Of course not, so why should it be any different for Apple?
Toph.
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Nero said 9:30AM on 8-27-2008
Are Sony and Microsoft selling their Console's OS seperately?
Missy said 2:26PM on 9-26-2008
nero has a valid point. if they are selling the mac os as a seperate installation software then it should be available for install on a system platform regardless if it's a mac or a window's intel based system...
as for the bmw argument, psystar isn't selling a bootleg, black market, fake Apple Macintosh computer and pawning it off as a real Apple computer to the end consumer. They don't really say they are "Mac/Apple" machines at all, just machines that run the Apple Mac OS software... now if they were putting the Apple logo and stating it was a Apple Macintosh machine then that would be an entirely different venue for the court system.
Mac Intel-based hardware can run Windows xp so it would seem a that Apple set the precedent of installing competitor's os on their platform.
topher said 10:50AM on 8-27-2008
Ah, that's a good point. Apple better stop selling their OS asap. Apple owners will just have to make do with whatever version of OS X comes pre-installed.
krizoitz said 2:29PM on 8-27-2008
@nero: Nope, and neither is Apple. They sell you a software license, BIG difference.
KA said 3:03PM on 10-02-2008
Missy, with that sort of logic it is much more arguable that every copy of Mac OS X sold separately from the Mac hardware is sold at a discounted upgrade price.