Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 10 February 2009 02:07
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Psystar has achieved a small but potentially significant win in its legal scrap with Apple. The Mac 'cloner' has been granted leave by US District Judge William Alsup to amend its counterclaims.
First, a quick catch-up for those unfamiliar with the case.
During 2008, Psystar started selling a PC assembled from off-the-shelf parts selected for compatibility with Mac OS X, and offered Apple's operating system as a preinstalled option. It followed up with server configurations competing with Apple's Xserve.
In July 2008, Apple launched legal action against Psystar, alleging copyright, trademark and trade dress infringement; trademark dilution; breach of contract; and unfair competition.
Psystar filed a counterclaim against Apple under antitrust laws, but that was dismissed as it failed to establish that there were distinct markets for Mac OS capable computers (as opposed to other PCs) and for Mac OS X itself (as opposed to other operating systems).
Apple was subsequently permitted to add DMCA claims to its suit against Psystar, asserting that Psystar had illegally circumvented technological protection measures.
When Alsup previously granted Apple's motion to dismiss Psystar's counterclaims, he left the door open for the latter to revise its case.
So what's new in the case? See
page 2.
