Psystar alleges copyright misuse by Apple

Stephen Withers
Friday, 12 December 2008 08:45

Opinion and Analysis

Mac cloner Psystar has squeezed ahead of a court-imposed deadline to amend its counterclaims against Apple after having its original countersuit tossed out of court. Apple's original suit against Psystar alleged copyright, trademark and trade dress infringement; trademark dilution; breach of contract; and unfair competition.

The issue started after Psystar began selling PCs assembled from generic parts with the option of having Mac OS X preinstalled as a factory option. Apple, not surprisingly, launched legal action against Psystar, and so far things have been going Cupertino's way in the courtroom.

Psystar is now claiming that Apple has committed copyright abuse through its licence agreement and through its recent claim of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) infringement on Psystar's part.

Psystar's filing asserts that the "firmly established" copyright misuse doctrine limits the use of "licensing restrictions that are either anticompetitive or otherwise violate the public policy underlying the federal copyright laws."

The company claims there are precedents establishing that a defendant in a copyright infringement suit need not prove an antitrust violation in order to claim copyright abuse, and that the defence is available even if the defendant was not directly injured by the misuse.

Specifically, Psystar's amended claim asserts that Apple's attempt to limit the use of Mac OS X to Apple-labelled computers is an attempt to secure an exclusive right that was not granted by the Copyright Office or the Copyright Act.

It also asserts that Apple has misused the DMCA in claiming the tie between Mac hardware and Mac OS X is a technological protection measure.

Psystar says it has a precedent to support this claim, so please read on.