Apple wins permanent injunction against Psystar, the well-known company offering computer hardware modified to run Mac OS X. This decision from the U.S. District Judge William Alsup marks the end of a 17 months old litigation.
The judge banned Psystar from:
- Copying, selling, offering to sell, distributing or creating derivative works of Mac OS X without authorization from Apple.
- Intentionally inducing, aiding, assisting, abetting or encouraging any other person or entity to infringe Apple's copyrighted Mac OS X software.
- Circumventing any technological measure that effectively controls access Mac OS X, including, but not limited to, the technological measure used by Apple to prevent unauthorized copying of Mac OS X on non-Apple computers.
- Playing any part in a product intended to circumvent Apple's methods for controlling Mac OS X, such as the methods used to prevent unauthorized copying of Mac OS X on non-Apple computers.
- Doing anything to circumvent the rights held by Apple under the Copyright Act with respect to Mac OS X.
There is still the case of the 50 USD Psystar's Rebel EFI software that allows certain Intel-powered PCs to run Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, however, as the Open Source community found out that Psystar was using codes developed under open source licensing, Psystar might soon have to deal other lawyers than those paid by Apple. This decision could help Apple to fight against clone makers in USA, however, in other countries, such as EU where regulations are different regarding software bundled to hardware, the company might not experience a quick and easy victory. Companies such as www.pearc.de and others in EU will still have some time to make business before really feeling pressure from Apple.
