EFiX Mac clone aborted amid legal concerns

Stephen Withers
Monday, 15 December 2008 04:49

Opinion and Analysis

In essence, the EFi-X dongle provides EFI firmware to replace a conventional PC motherboard's BIOS. EFI is basically a more modern alternative to a BIOS, and Mac OS X requires the presence of EFI firmware.

Some commentators have implied that the EFi-X dongle contains a copy of Apple's EFI firmware, but that is not necessarily true. Reverse engineering is an established was of creating functionally equivalent software, and that technique is specifically allowed by law in various jurisdictions.

After all, it was the reverse engineering of IBM's BIOS by companies such as Compaq that led to the creation of vast the "IBM compatible" (now Windows compatible) PC market.

It seems that EFiX USA hopes that decoupling the sale of the EFi-X dongle from the sale of a computer or of an otherwise legitimate copy of Mac OS X will stave off any legal threats by Apple.

Is the company relying on the "significant non-infringing use" defence? In the Grokster case, the US Supreme Court held that "One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, going beyond mere distribution with knowledge of third-party action, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device's lawful uses."

EFiX USA does say that the EFi-X device supports Mac OS X, so it seems possible that it could be held liable under the Grokster decision.

However, the question of whether copyright law has any bearing on Apple's licence clause that purports to only allow the use of Mac OS X on an Apple-labelled computer is something that may be tested in the current court case between Apple and Psystar.