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Psystar - Another Step Closer to Death

Posted by Daniel Shain

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A US District Judge recently threw out the bulk of Psystar's latest countersuit, while agreeing with the bulk of Apple's charges. Looks like the end is neigh for this particular hackintosh distributor... and why do I get the sense that the hackintosh community at large won't be shedding too many tears?

We last talked about Psystar a little while ago when they decided to release their Rebel EFI - or I should say, sell their EFI for $50. Let's set aside the fact that we were initially skeptical and that we've heard bad reviews... we've got bigger fish to fry. In case you missed it, not long after the EFI was launched both Apple and Psystar asked US District Judge William Aslup of San Francisco to rule on some of the core issues ahead of the January 2010 court date. On November 12th he did, and as with just about every single official legal ruling we've ever seen, the results came out badly for Psystar.

One of Psystar's major defenses was based on the first-sale doctrine, which roughly states that once somebody buys something, nobody gets to tell them what to do with what they've bought. That's all well and good, but according to Aslup, it doesn't apply here.

"Even assuming arguendo that Psystar was the owner of a copy, the first-sale defense fails here. Section 109 provides immunity only when copies are "lawfully made." The copies at issue here were not lawfully manufactured with the authorization of the copyright owner. As stated, Psystar made an unauthorized copy of Mac OS X from a Mac mini that was placed onto an "imaging station" and then used a "master copy" to make many more unauthorized copies that were installed on individual Psystar computers. The first-sale defense does not apply to those unauthorized copies."

In short, the copies are illegal, so it doesn't even matter if the distribution method is legal, since it's illegal to distribute something you shouldn't legally have. One of Psystar's earlier defenses, dealing with antitrust issues, has been long since dismissed, and the company has few legal legs remaining to stand on.

With the January 2010 court date looming, it can't be long for Psystar now. Then again, I've said that before, so who knows? Regardless of the legal precedents they may set, one thing Psystar has certainly done is shed some publicity on the whole hackintosh scene... not necessarily positive publicity mind you, and given that hackintosh programmers in various corners suspect Psystar ripped off their code and sold it commercially, it seems safe to say most of that community will be happy when this story finally ends.

Via crn, and check out groklaw's transcription of the case here

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  • By: Reise Aug 18, 2010 8:43 AM

    thanks for this review

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  • By: long term care debt Jul 22, 2010 11:05 AM

    they are just brand names assembling parts just like you could do yourself at home.. I mean.. I opened my Gateway the other day to see a Cooler Master fan.

  • By: tomshaw Jul 22, 2010 11:04 AM

    they are just brand names assembling parts just like you could do yourself at home.. I mean.. I opened my Gateway the other day to see a Cooler Master fan. long term care debt

  • By: lasik Jul 21, 2010 2:55 PM

    most of all major PC manufacturers are now anyway.. they are just brand names assembling parts just like you could do yourself at home..

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    most of all major PC manufacturers are now anyway.. they are just brand names assembling parts just like you could do yourself at home..

  • By: doctor charles Jul 18, 2010 2:58 PM

    Apple's market cap is now bigger than Microsoft's... you can't win a legal battle against those kinds of resources.

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    this is going to drag on forever.Psystar is in bad shape

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    I think we can probably consider them dead at this point. you definitely don't take on Apple.

  • By: webdesign & SEO Deutschland Jul 13, 2010 12:00 PM

    One should know that you will nearly never have a chance against Apple.. they defend their copyrights and such to the death.. and they have the resources to defeat just about any threat. Silly to think they could get the leg up on them.

  • By: shoes - games - play games Jul 13, 2010 10:50 AM

    I'm kinda all for the movement back to "open computers" especially since that's really what most of all major PC manufacturers are now anyway.. they are just brand names assembling parts just like you could do yourself at home.. I mean.. I opened my Gateway the other day to see a Cooler Master fan.. haha.. I thought it was funny. You'd think they'd at least private label or something.

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    anyone who purchases at this point has been forewarned.. you get what you get

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    yeah.. my buddy was just telling me about this company.. he said to steer clear though so I was forewarned. good update though

  • By: Search Engine Ranking Jun 30, 2010 6:44 AM

    I heard a lot of "buzz" about their products too. I almost checked it out. Guess I won't be now :) Thanks for the input.

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    The Rebel EFI left something to be desired. Anyhow thanks for the updated report.

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    One of Psystar's earlier defenses, dealing with antitrust issues, has been long since dismissed, and the company has few legal legs remaining to stand on.

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    Nice, I really liked this sentence: "Even assuming arguendo that Psystar was the owner of a copy, the first-sale defense fails here". Bee pollen benefits are nice, VERY GOOD REVIEW here indeed, so don't stop.

  • By: Directory Submission May 25, 2010 5:52 AM

    After the Guardian did their own investigation into the Mac clone maker Psystar yesterday, we decided to take it a step further and see if they actually exist, in the physical sense. How could a company so brazenly challenge Apple and have little to no record of actually being a company?

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