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In a move not at all surprising, Apple finally decided to
sue Psystar, the Calif. Company that has been selling Mac clones like crazy, with
no authorization from Apple and regardless of the raised eyebrows in the media
when the entire story came to the public’s attention.
In the lawsuit, filed July 3rd, Apple accuses Psystar of
violating the terms of its Software License Agreement regarding the use of Mac
OS X software and Apple’s intellectual property, by selling a modified,
unauthorized version of the Leopard operating system, namely the OpenMac, later
changed to Open Computer.
Furthermore, Apple accuses Psystar of starting the
commercialization of OpenServ 1100 and OpenServ 2400, both of which use the Mac OS X Leopard
Server software, once again in violation of Apple’s Software License Agreement
terms and intellectual property.
Among other things, Apple finds Psystar responsible for
advertising and promoting products in manners that affect the Apple brand, by
offering consumers poor quality products. Apple quoted some online comments of
Open Computer users, who’ve complained about loud noises, inability to update
the computer, lousy tech support and so on.
Those were the accusations, now here are Apple’s demands (which
they’d better get, if they don’t want a precedent to be created): in the light
of economic damages suffered by Apple and profits gained by Psystar, Apple wants
full statutory damages for the defendant’s “willful acts” of copyright
infringement, as well as an injunction against Psystar’s continuing production
and distribution of Apple copyrighted materials and the recall of all products
sold.
In April this year, the enigmatic company Psystar began
offering for as little as $399 an OpenMac computer that ran OS X Leopard and was
a cheaper version of Apple’s Mac Pro. After the Mac clone became the favorite
subject of all newspapers and rumors about a legal matter with Apple started to
appear, Psystar defended its actions by claiming Apple had created a monopoly
and the matter should be settled in court (wish granted!)
The problem is however that if Psystar won’t get crushed in
court, and we do mean crushed, Apple will probably have to deal with a lot of
rebounds in the future, when others might also be tempted to bet on the same
card in order to make an “honest” buck.
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