Psystar Begins Shutting Down [Untrue]
- December 19th, 2009 - 7.05 pm UTC
- Apple Legal News, News of Interest
- Alex Brooks
Dow Jones reports that Psystar has begun closing down the company following Apple’s injunction against the company issue earlier this week.
Psystar whose website has already ceased operation will fire its eight employees according to Psystar attorney Eugene Action. Action also said that Psystar’s President Rudy Pedraza will begin “shutting things down immediately”.
[Update - 19 December 2009] Despite the above details it appears that Psystar has little intention of ceasing operation. Within the last few hours the company’s website has returned, although doesn’t contain any hardware on sale. A new report from Computerworld suggests that the original quote from Psystar attorney Eugene Action was incorrect. The clarification comes from K.A.D. Camara, of the Houston, Texas firm Camara & Sibley LLP, “Regrettably, Mr. Action was misquoted in an early story that seems to have been picked up elsewhere. Psystar does not intend to shut down permanently.”
Camera added that although Psystar will cease sales of PCs installed with Mac OS X, the company will continue to sell PCs with other operating systems. Psystar will continue to sell Rebel EFI.
Comments
dizzle 19th December 2009, 19.44 pm
It appears that Psystar sent mixed signals and their attorneys are now saying they are not. I am trying to get to the truth of the matter and perhaps write something on it. When I first read on a few sites two days ago that they were giving up, I doubted it highly and thought to myself “give it two days,” and I was right. Why? Because they have an over $2million dollar judgment against them that is tolled until all of the legal actions, including appeals, have been exhausted. Therefore Psystar has over 2 million reasons to keeps things going, even if only minimally, for as long as possible. And they can hope during that time that they get a judge to stumble in judgment. The longer it drags on, the more likely that becomes.
rwahrens 20th December 2009, 03.10 am
It seems to me, and IANAL, but didn’t the injunction use language that should prevent them from “helping others” circumvent Apple’s protective measures? Wouldn’t this include Rebel EFI?
It would seem that these guys are playing with fire by not adhering to the injunction, if that is true.
Chanson de Roland 20th December 2009, 07.29 am
Yes, the injunction forbid, inter alia, Psystar and, of course, its principals, the Pedraza Brothers, from abetting anyone in infringing on Apple’s copyrights in OS X and/or using circumvention technology to circumvention the technical measures that restrict OS X from running on anything other than Apple-labeled hardware. However, Judge Alsup neither specifically included or excluded Rebel EFI from the scope of his injunction. Instead, Judge Alsup established a vetting procedure, where Psystar could move the court for a determination of whether Rebel EFI or any other of its technologies was within the ambit of the permanent injunction. If Psystar fails to avail itself of such a vetting motion, it runs the risks that Rebel EFI or any such technology violates the injunction, thus, exposing Psystar and the Pedrazas to a possible contempt citation. Judge Alsup also warned the Psystar and the Pedrazas that any further infringement of Apple’s copyrights in OS X or violation of the DMCA with respect to the technical measures protecting OS X could be criminal under the criminal provisions of the Copyright Act. Those criminal provisions are federal felonies that impose significant criminal fines and/or prison time. See 17 U.S.C. ยงยง 506, 1204.