The never-ending saga of the mighty mouse company taking on of the Goliath of elitism and aesthetic perfection has taken yet another rather strange turn of events. Yes folks the sad story of Psystar being hunted to the ends of the court system has reached what can only be termed a rather strange resolution.

Today it was announced that Apple and Psystar have agreed to settle a 17-month lawsuit that will see Psystar from pre-installing Mac OS X on the generic Intel based computers that Psystar sells. Yet the agreement may not stop the company from selling Mac clones as Psystar has laid out the argument that would shift the responsibility for installing Apple’s operating system on to the customer.

Part of Apple’s response to this?

Apple has agreed to voluntarily dismiss all its trademark, trade-dress, and state law claims. As a result of this partial settlement the need for a trial is eliminated and reduces the issues before the court in regards to the scope of any permanent injunction on Apple’s copyright claims. This was the injunction that would have seen the hammer brought down on Psystar effectively shutting down the company for good. Not so now.

Huh?

Well it all seems to center around a piece of software that Psystar has created that would allow customers to install OS X onto any generic PC. Psystar is arguing that the software called Rebel EFI is completely Psystar property and in no way includes any Apple trademarked code.

“Psystar argues only that any injunction from this Court should not extend to Rebel EFI, a Psystar product that is presently the subject of litigation in the Florida case, that is composed exclusively of Psystar software, that is not sold in conjunction with any hardware, and that is sold entirely apart from any copy of Mac OS X or any computer running Mac OS X,” Psystar said.

Source: Computerworld

By getting Rebel EFI excluded from any of the proceeding Psystar is effectively moving the responsibility of installing OS X onto generic Intel based PC onto the consumer. So on one hand Apple gets some satisfaction by appearing to smack down some upstart company as well as maintaining its copyright and trademarks but this is so unlike Apple. After all this is a company notorious for its habit of literally demolishing anyone who they think is infringing on their products or trademarks – they are not a company to give quarter to anyone.

Yet if this argument by Psystar regarding the exclusion of the Rebel EFI software passes muster, and at this point Apple doesn’t seem to be contesting the argument, there would still be a legal avenue for consumers to install OS X on any computer of their choice. Obviously the hope here for Psystar is that it would be one of their systems.

So is this possibly a tacit admission by Apple that while we could stop this if we wanted to let things run their course. If people use this software to try out Mac OS X on some crappy PC Apple will possibly assume that they should be able to move a portion of those people over to their own products arguing that if you liked OS X on a sub optimal machine try it now on a real computer – a Mac.

It’s not like they have anything to lose. they’ve put a irritating upstart back in its place and it now has a possible new way to bring in new customers and they haven’t had to expend a cent developing software that would get a lot of people asking a lot of questions that apple wouldn’t want to answer.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

Could Apple use Psystar as a backdoor to a wider consumer marketplace is a post from: The Inquisitr

Like we didn’t know that this wasn’t going to happen.

Yesterday, November 13, 2009, Apple won its expected victory over pain in the ass Psystar Corp. when Judge William Alsup agreed with Apple that the little company that wished it was did indeed violate Apple’s copyright and just for good measure the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as well.

Judge Alsup sidestepped Psystar’s claim that it was protected by the first sale doctrine, which generally gives the buyer of a protected work the right to resell it without the permission of, or any payment to, the copyright holder. The judge said first sale only applies to legal copies and that the way in which Psystar had modified the software to let it run on clones meant that the copies did not meet this standard. The judge rejected out of hand Psystar’s claims that it made legal use of Apple’s trademarks and that Apple has misued it copyrights.

Source: BusinessWeek – The Tech Beat

A hearing on remedies is scheduled for December 14 at which point the brothers behind Psystar had better be ready to kiss their financial asses good-bye.

Bye-Bye Psystar it was nice knowing ya until Apple chewed you up and spat you out is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ah poor plucky little Psystar, how I had hopes that you would succeed if only by a little bit but it seems that is not to be. For those of you who might know of the Psystar story it is one of a small company willing to take on the might of Apple and their well fed lawyers by selling off the rack computers that came with Mac OS X installed.

It was a little over a year ago when Psystar first made headlines in the tech blogosphere by releasing their Mac clones and everyone waited with baited breath for Apple to hit them and hit hard. Interestingly enough apple’s response lacked any or the real ferociousness that Apple, and its lawyers, is known for. While the company was eventually sued by Apple they seem to take a more casual approach to the whole thing.

In return to Apple suing them Psystar caught most of the tech pundit off-guard by turning around and suing Apple. However as it seems in most cases when it comes to battling Apple, might wins over right and Psystar has finally filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The one interesting thing to come out of this is that we will finally be able to see who has been bankrolling Psystar as that information is revealed as a part of the court hearing on June 5.

Even though they might be in trouble money and legal wise this hasn’t stopped Psystar from continuing to sell their Mac clones on their site. As the MacObserver blog notes though it really is only a matter of time before Psystar will be a footnote in Apple history

Even if Psystar has plans of continuing its battle against Apple to sell PCs with Mac OS X installed, it isn’t in a strong position to move forward once the Judge overseeing its bankruptcy lifts the automatic stay since it doesn’t likely have money to pay for its legal defense. Without the cash to pay its legal team, Psystar probably won’t have anyone to represent it in court, and won’t be in a position to defend itself against Apple.

Psystar begins circling drain, Apple lawyers exchange high-fives is a post from: The Inquisitr

Not satisfied with waiting for and court decisions as the legality of what they are doing Psystar is releasing a brand new Open computer model on Tuesday. The new model, called the Open(3), will be smaller, faster and sexier – or at least according to their PR spin.

The new model will include Intel’s E7400 Core2Duo processor running at 2.8GHz; which apparently is over 50% faster than the previous processor used. They’ve also phased out the mini-tower format case and opted for a slim form-factor case that is 47% smaller.

The other specs include:

• Mac OS X Leopard v10.5
• 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM
• 500GB SATA hard drive (7200 RPM)
• 20X DVD Burner
• 256MB GeForce 8400GS graphics

All the more for the Apple lawyers to sharpen their knives on I guess.

[hat tip to SlipperyBrick]

Psystar shoots another one across the bow of Apple is a post from: The Inquisitr

For those of you not familiar with the back story to this David vs. Goliath story here’s the short version. Psystar setup shop last year marketing what basically boiled down to a Mac clone. Apple at first didn’t do anything but near the end of the year they finally slapped Psystar with a lawsuit to which the scrappy little company slapped Apple back with a lawsuit of their own.

At which point Apple put forward a motion to have Psystar’s countersuit thrown out. Well the judge in the case has ruled that Psystar’s lawsuit can go ahead. In addition US District Court Judge William Alsop suggested that "Psystar may well have a legitimate interest in establishing misuse [of copyright] independent of Apple’s claims against it — for example, to clarify the risks it confronts by marketing the products at issue in this case or others it may wish to develop,"

Alsup also said that if Psystar proves that Apple abused copyright laws, some of Apple’s charges against the company would be moot. He also seemed to say that that others would then be free to follow in Psystar’s footsteps. "Moreover, if established, misuse would bar enforcement (for the period of misuse) not only as to defendants who are actually party to the challenged license but also as to potential defendants not themselves injured by the misuse who may have similar interests," said Alsup in his ruling.

Source: ComputerWorld

I can’t help it but I’m rooting for Psystar here. It would be nice to see Apple; and its legal team, get their comeuppance finally.

Psystar wins one against Apple is a post from: The Inquisitr

Psystar has had a colorful history, starting with a promise to ship cheap PC’s with Leopard installed despite having little to no history nor presence, through to actually shipping the goods and (as many would have expected) eventually being sued by Apple for copyright infringement.

Psystar may be going for hero status, with a counter claim alleging that Apple’s practices are anti-competitive. From CNet:

Miami-based Psystar, owned by Rudy Pedraza, will sue Apple under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple’s tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is “an anticompetitive restrain of trade,” according to attorney Colby Springer of antitrust specialists Carr & Ferrell. Psystar is requesting that the court find Apple’s EULA void, and is asking for unspecified damages.

If I was taking bets, Apple would be a short priced favorite to win, but many will at least morally support Psystar, even Apple fans, in its attempts to bring competition to the OS X market.

There’s brave, then there’s Psystar brave is a post from: The Inquisitr