Apple Hits Psystar with DMCA Violations

December 2nd, 2008 at 8:36 AM - News by Jeff Gamet

Psystar is experiencing the wrath of Apple first hand now that the Cupertino company has moved to add Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations to its case against the unauthorized Mac clone maker. The move could lead to even bigger problems for Psystar -- including the possibility of criminal charges.

Apple moved to amend its July filing against Psystar to include Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violation claims late in November after it "discovered additional information," according to the new filing.

The amendment alleged that Psystar used special code to bypass the built-in copy protections designed to prevent Mac OS X from running on non-Apple hardware and asserted that the company "illegally circumvented Apple's technological copyright-protection measures," setting up the argument for DMCA violations.

One attorney familiar with this type of case commented anonymously "Unless Psystar's can successfully appeal Judge Alsup's dismissal of its counterclaims or re-plead its case under the terms of Judge Alsup's order, the pressure on Psystar to settle on Apple's terms is augmented by the additional remedies afford Apple under the DMCA and by the threat of a criminal case."

Psystar is still selling Mac clones.

This isn't the first major setback in Psystar's fight with Apple. The company was dealt a devastating blow in November when its antitrust case against Apple was dismissed, opening the door for Apple to continue with its own trademark and copyright violations suit.

Despite the grim outlook, Psystar is still selling Mac OS X-compatible computers on its Web site.

"Apparently, Psystar does not believe that the wages of sin is death, because it is still selling OS X pre-installed on its Open Computers and has issued discovery against Apple," the attorney said. "This is guaranteed to piss off Jobs and Cooperman so that they seek the utter death and destruction of Psystar."