Unauthorized Mac clone maker Psystar throws in the towel
Pesky would-be Mac clone maker Psystar said Friday it plans to close shop immediately, this following a definitive court ruling earlier this week preventing the company from shipping Apple's Mac OS X operating system on its third party systems.
Eugene Action, an attorney for the Doral, Fla.-based firm, told Dow Jones Newswire that Psystar President Rudy Pedraza will be "shutting things down immediately."
"They will not be in business," he added, noting that the company also intends to fire its eight employees.
Word of the shuttering comes roughly two weeks after Psystar said it would halt all hardware sales related to its unauthorized Mac clone business. It brings to a close a near 18-month legal saga that began in April of 2008 when the then little-known firm first began touting a $400 Mac clone via its website.
The fatal blow for Psystar came earlier this week, when a federal judge issued a permanent injunction against clone maker, banning it from selling hardware running hacked versions of the Apple's Mac OS X operating system.
Having been the recipient of Pystar's marketing taunts for roughly three months, Apple finally sued Psystar on grounds of copyright infringement in July of 2008. Psystar fired back the following month with a countersuit accusing the Mac maker of using anti-competitive tactics to unfairly squeezing out possible rivals.
However, Psystar would see its defense slowly unravel in the year that would follow, with the court throwing out the vast majority of its arguments before the clone maker made a bid for bankruptcy in an apparent attempt to delay the case.
Psystar ultimately agreed earlier this month to pay Apple a $2.7 million settlement, which included $1,337,500 in damages over copyright infringement, breach of contract, and violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Additional damages and attorneys fees amounted to another $1,337,500.
As of Thursday evening, Psystar's website had gone dark, though Action said Psystar intends to appeal the court's most recent decision.
The closing of the Web site also likely signifies the official end of the Rebel EFI product, which was a point of contention that stood out following this week's permanent injunction. The $50 application allowed users to install Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on certain Intel-based machines.
In his ruling in a San Francisco federal court, Judge William Alsup said he would not specifically include the Rebel EFI product as part of the injunction. Alsup said he did so because Psystar's statements to the court avoided saying specifically what Rebel EFI does, so the judge felt it was inappropriate for him to determine whether the software falls within the scope of the injunction. However, he said the company's argument that it has a right to sell and distribute the software is weak, and likely would not hold up if properly tested in court.
"Whether such a defense would be successful on the merits, or face preclusion or other hurdles, this order cannot predict," Alsup said. "What is certain, however, is that until such a motion is brought, Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction."
At the time, it appeared likely that the Rebel EFI matter would be resolved in a separate lawsuit filed by Psystar against Apple in a Florida court. In that complaint, Psystar alleged that Apple was engaged in "anticompetitive attempts to tie Mac OS X Snow Leopard to its Macintosh line of computers." But with the Florida company's Web site gone dark, potential customers no longer have a method to purchase the Rebel EFI product.
Eugene Action, an attorney for the Doral, Fla.-based firm, told Dow Jones Newswire that Psystar President Rudy Pedraza will be "shutting things down immediately."
"They will not be in business," he added, noting that the company also intends to fire its eight employees.
Word of the shuttering comes roughly two weeks after Psystar said it would halt all hardware sales related to its unauthorized Mac clone business. It brings to a close a near 18-month legal saga that began in April of 2008 when the then little-known firm first began touting a $400 Mac clone via its website.
The fatal blow for Psystar came earlier this week, when a federal judge issued a permanent injunction against clone maker, banning it from selling hardware running hacked versions of the Apple's Mac OS X operating system.
Having been the recipient of Pystar's marketing taunts for roughly three months, Apple finally sued Psystar on grounds of copyright infringement in July of 2008. Psystar fired back the following month with a countersuit accusing the Mac maker of using anti-competitive tactics to unfairly squeezing out possible rivals.
However, Psystar would see its defense slowly unravel in the year that would follow, with the court throwing out the vast majority of its arguments before the clone maker made a bid for bankruptcy in an apparent attempt to delay the case.
Psystar ultimately agreed earlier this month to pay Apple a $2.7 million settlement, which included $1,337,500 in damages over copyright infringement, breach of contract, and violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Additional damages and attorneys fees amounted to another $1,337,500.
As of Thursday evening, Psystar's website had gone dark, though Action said Psystar intends to appeal the court's most recent decision.
The closing of the Web site also likely signifies the official end of the Rebel EFI product, which was a point of contention that stood out following this week's permanent injunction. The $50 application allowed users to install Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on certain Intel-based machines.
In his ruling in a San Francisco federal court, Judge William Alsup said he would not specifically include the Rebel EFI product as part of the injunction. Alsup said he did so because Psystar's statements to the court avoided saying specifically what Rebel EFI does, so the judge felt it was inappropriate for him to determine whether the software falls within the scope of the injunction. However, he said the company's argument that it has a right to sell and distribute the software is weak, and likely would not hold up if properly tested in court.
"Whether such a defense would be successful on the merits, or face preclusion or other hurdles, this order cannot predict," Alsup said. "What is certain, however, is that until such a motion is brought, Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction."
At the time, it appeared likely that the Rebel EFI matter would be resolved in a separate lawsuit filed by Psystar against Apple in a Florida court. In that complaint, Psystar alleged that Apple was engaged in "anticompetitive attempts to tie Mac OS X Snow Leopard to its Macintosh line of computers." But with the Florida company's Web site gone dark, potential customers no longer have a method to purchase the Rebel EFI product.
Comments
As of Thursday evening, Psystar's website had gone dark, though Action said Psystar intends to appeal the court's most recent decision.
"Come back and I'll bite your kneecaps off!"
Pesky would-be Mac clone maker Psystar said Friday it plans to close shop immediately, this following a definitive court ruling earlier this week preventing the company from shipping Apple's Mac OS X operating system on its third party systems.
The wheels of justice turn slowly, but I guess they do turn after all!
Time to get real jobs.
their Windows and Linux system prices were not so great that you couldn't do as well at the local Best Buy. and they have no local support outside of their neighborhood. who wants to have to ship a computer off for days to weeks everytime.
they needed the Mac gig.
and that was shut down by the Judge banning them from selling any computer system with Leopard or any other version of the OS or any other Apple created software of the essentially the same functionality (would that include the iphone OS???).. AND selling or giving away anything that would allow anyone else to install the software which means their 'we ship the machine before Mac OS is installed and let the user do that' doesn't fly.
News would have been if they didn't toss in and declared that they would live on even without the almighty Mac
"They will not be in business," he added, noting that the company also intends to fire its eight employees.
Considering they sold less than a 800* clones, I would highly suspect that there were that many full time.
I would also surmise that they will have difficulty paying the court settlement. But if I were them, paying or not being able to pay Apple is one thing. I would, however, be more concerned about paying back my investors.
*http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...ge_clone_sales
"Come back and I'll bite your kneecaps off!"
Sorry, I could not resist a line from one of all time favorite movies. Priceless!
Considering they sold less than a 800* clones, I would highly suspect that there were that many full time.
I would also surmise that they will have difficulty paying settlement. But if I were them, paying or not being able to pay Apple is one thing. I would, however, be more concerned about paying back my investors.
*http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...ge_clone_sales
I didn't realize they only sold 800 clones. With as many times AI reports on this you would think they were going to suprass Apple in sales.
There are dozens of others we know about, much much more we don't know about.
Small (and expensive) victory really.
Apple shouldn't have used commodity PC parts for it's computers, or at least tie OS X performance to a special chip so it can't run very well on anything other than authorized Apple hardware.
But perhaps it's Apple's plan for OS X to take over the free market, much like hacked Windows versions are in China.
But then Microsoft doesn't make very much money from China as the black market Windows has taken over there completely.
Is this Apple's plan? Work form the bottom up? Replace Microsoft?
Rebel EFI, that's where Pystar is going. Mucho bucks in software and not easily whacked like hardware sales.
Hmm, what new country will they set up in now? China?
Were they even profitable? Ever?
Extremely unlikely. But keep in mind that any company that sells material goods (as opposed to services) will not see a cent of profit until all their initial investment is paid off.
But with Psystar the red ink must have been overwhelming, to say the least.
So can we say the same for Quo computers, who are selling nearly the same product as Apple, somehow without the price tag?
They don't appear to be bundling the OS with the computer. They're just selling computers that are capable of running OS X. That's not a crime.
"Come back and I'll bite your kneecaps off!"
haha classic