Apple Sues Psystar, Offers Unusual Solution

Ever since Psystar Corp. first popped up in the market hawking its Open Computing series of Mac clones, the question uppermost in industry watchers’ minds has not been whether, but when, Apple would sue the company. On July 3, the company finally filed suit against Psystar.

Filing its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Northern Florida, Apple slapped Psystar with eight copyright violation claims, trademark infringement, breach of contract, and also unfair competition.

Filing the lawsuit was along expected lines. What has, however, surprised all is the solution Apple has proposed – that Psystar recall all the Mac clones it has sold so far and stop further sale of its computers. The rest of the claims are along standard lines – that Psystar pay all attorney fees for Apple, and also cough up money towards damages.

The Open Computer that Psystar is selling runs on a tweaked up version of Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard operating system. In its lawsuit, Apple claimed the company also provided unlicensed patches on its computer, stuff that it apparently freely copied from its website.

Apparently, that is not the only mischief Psystar has been up to, Apple claims in its filing. It alleges that the company is also selling an Openserv server that makes use of the Mac OS X Server edition that Apple sells.

Apple claims in its lawsuit, “As alleged more fully below, by misappropriating Apple's proprietary software and intellectual property for its own use, Psystar's actions harm consumers by selling to them a poor product that is advertised and promoted in a manner that falsely and unfairly implies an affiliation with Apple.”

It goes on to add, “Psystar's actions also have caused, and are causing, harm to Apple and constitute a misuse of Apple's intellectual property.”

Psystar started selling the machines from April this year, and while it is up to individual opinion about whether Apple was right in asking for a product recall, one must agree that it was, at the very least, an unusual suggestion. This is because product recalls usually come from government agencies.

However, Apple’s suggestion is not without precedent. In 1998, Frederick Hart, a sculptor, nearly caused Warner Bros. to recall its movie, The Devil’s Advocate, after he alleged the company had presented a distorted version of his sculpture in the movie. A last-minute settlement smoothed ruffled feathers and saved Warner Bros. the blushes.

The legal team working for Apple on this lawsuit has passed on the mantle of making any comments regarding the issue to the PR executives at Apple, while none from the Psystar management could be reached for comment.