Apple has finally lost patience with Mac clone maker Psystar and is suing the Florida-based company in a federal district court. According to the blog of lawyer Jorge Espinosa Apple filed the lawsuit July 3 alleging Psystar is engaging in "shrink wrap license, trademark and copyright infringement." This, in essence, means Psystar was allegedly knowingly violating copyrights by selling computers "pre-installed with Apple?s OSX operating system."
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, Northern District of California.
Meanwhile, a review of the Psystar Web site shows, despite the lawsuit, it's still advertising and taking orders for the Open Computer and OpenPro Computer. Psystar markets its OpenPro Computer ($999) as "If you buy Leopard with your Open Computer we'll install it for free." When I called a sales representative was happy to take my order.
The folks over at ZDNnet got a hold of the 16-page complaint which details the filing. The essence of this complaint seems to come down to, according to ZDNet, that "Psystar's products are junk and are harming Apple because they are 'advertised and promoted in a manner that falsely and unfairly implies an affiliation with Apple."
Since April Psystar has been selling a low-cost computer, called an Open Computer ($399) which is offered as an OS option Apple's operating system. The review guys here at PC World and Mac World have put it through the paces, finding it falls somewhere in the pack in terms of performance when compared to true Apple Macs. It looks as if it may not matter any more, since Apple will most likely crush Psystar in a short period of time.
