RSS Feeds
|
BR DE ES FR IT JP NL UK US
Babblebaby
|
Defamer
|
Gizmodo
|
Kotaku
|
Lifehacker
In the latest bizarre turn in a protracted, anything-goes legal battle, Psystar is basically claiming that Apple doesn't own the copyright for OS X. Sound unlikely? It probably is.
I'm seriously buying into the idea that Psystar has secret supporters, because there is no way a small company could fight a hopeless battle against Apple this long. Yet, the battle rages on.
We all know how well things are working out for Psystar, so it is a little puzzling why an Argentinian company is choosing to push their luck by building more Mac clones.
In a new turn of events after the judge dismissed Psystar's anti-trust claims, Apple is now on the offensive, accusing them of being associated with a group of shady John Does breaking the law:
Psystar, whose quasi-legit Mac clones brought the legal wrath of El Jobso down upon them, just had their antitrust countersuit against Apple thrown out. Apparently Psystar was trying to claim that Apple's OS X is it's own market separate from the other PC operating systems and suffer from a lack of hardware competition—thus the need for Psystar-like companies. Well Judge William Alsup was having none of it, dismissing the claim today. Alsup felt that Apple's high-profile advertising was proof enough that it was competing in the same market as Microsoft Windows (GREAT intuition there, judge!). In any case, Psystar has until December 8th to adjust their complaint, but they really don't have a lot to fall back on at this point. [Apple Insider via MacRumors]
Calling Psystar's planned Mac notebook ugly is teeeechnically speculation, but I don't see how the Mac-cloner extraordinaire could produce a "very competitively priced" MacBook knockoff that isn't a total brick. (Besides, have you seen their desktop?) Maybe it will shock and astound us all by being an well-designed, lustworthy piece of hardware at a cut-rate price. But last time I checked, bio-engineered birdpigs created with the DNA of David Hasselhoff still couldn't fly. [Apple Insider]
Even though Apple and Psystar are currently negotiating behind closed doors, the Mac-cloner is continuing to defy Apple by releasing new products. Psystar announced today that they are ready to ship an Mac clone with built-in Blu-ray and NVIDIA 9800GT graphics cards. For those of you who recall, Jobs recently referred to Blu-ray as a "bag of hurt" because of licensing costs—which is one of the reasons why a Blu-ray drive has not been integrated into a Mac thus far.
Anyone licking their chops at the prospect of a legal battle between Apple and Mac-cloner Psystar, where Apple would face the small (but real) chance that Psystar would be able to prove its antitrust claim in open court, can quit smacking their lips. Apple and Psystar have agreed to settle the case with Alternative Dispute Resolution, a process that will involve non-binding arbitration, early neutral evaluation, and mediation—and is totally behind closed doors.
Remember when Psystar turned their little hardware dalliance with Mac OS X into an ideological crusade against monopolies? Apple isn't having any of it. The company has just filed to dismiss Psystar's antitrust lawsuit, and, as if channeling John McCain from the last debate, seems pretty angry that Psystar just doesn't understand:
Psystar, prominent makers of "Hackintosh" PCs running Mac OS X, is set to respond to Apple's copyright infringement suit on Tuesday and file a countersuit of their own, just like we thought. Psystar owner Rudy Pedraza insists that his OpenComputer hardware is merely "providing an alternative, an option" to Apple's pricey hardware. Pedraza plans to countersue Apple under two federal antitrust laws, hoping to prove that Apple's fierce tethering of OS to hardware represents an "anticompetitive restraint of trade." It'll be an uphill battle to fight Apple's legal team, but I kind of hope they win: it's like David versus Goliath, if David and Goliath were both big nerds. [CNET]
