Apple kicks Psystar butt in first round of fight

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 20 November 2008 01:28

Opinion and Analysis

Alsup has given Psystar 20 days to seek leave to amend the decision, but the company will have to come up with some good reasons to convince the judge that his original analysis was incorrect.

In April, Psystar launched its OpenMac computer, hastily renamed Open Computer, with Mac OS X as an option.

It followed up with OpenServ, a rack-mounted server with Mac OS X Server offered alongside Windows Server, Ubuntu, and CentOS.

In July, Apple started legal action against Psystar, alleging copyright, trademark and trade dress infringement; trademark dilution; breach of contract; and unfair competition.

In August, Psystar launched its ill-fated counterclaim against Apple.

Psystar will now have to come up with a defence against Apple's original claims.

Central to Apple's case are the terms in the Mac OS X licence agreement that state the licensee agrees not to use the software "on any non-Apple-labeled computer or enable another to do so" and that the "License will terminate automatically from Apple if [the licensee] fail[s] to comply with any term(s) of this License".

Since Judge Alsup has now upheld Apple's right to include such a term in the licence, the company's prospects of victory in its suit against Psystar are looking good, even if only some of its claims are upheld.