On Monday, Apple and Psystar have finally strike a deal in the copyright case that has been going on for months. If you haven’t heard, Apple was suing Psystar for shipping out Intel-based systems with Mac OS X preinstalled on them. Apple finally got what they wanted because Psystar has agreed to stop selling these Mac clone computers. A statement was released about the deal:
“Psystar and Apple today entered into a partial settlement that is embodied in a stipulation that will be filed with the Court tomorrow,” Psystar’s motion of Monday began. “Psystar has agreed on certain amounts to be awarded as statutory damages on Apple’s copyright claims in exchange for Apple’s agreement not to execute on these awards until all appeals in this matter have been concluded. Moreover, Apple has agreed to voluntarily dismiss all its trademark, trade-dress, and state-law claims. This partial settlement eliminates the need for a trial and reduces the issues before this Court to the scope of any permanent injunction on Apple’s copyright claims.”
It doesn’t seem that this ends Psystar creating these clone-Mac computers. Psystar will now shift responsbility for their customers to do the dirty work. Psystar has been able to do this by a product they designed called Rebel EFI, which they are fighting to keep out of the deal. This will allow their customers to still install Mac OS X on their systems. Does this mean that this allows Apple to sue individuals, similar to the music industry?
Psystar said released following statement about this shift: “Psystar’s end users do not engage in commercial use of Mac OS X and their use would qualify as use for ‘internal purposes’ even under the standards articulated by Apple in its summary-judgment briefing.”
We’ll definitely see how this concludes.
