Bringing eighteen months of litigation to a screeching halt, Apple yesterday succeeded in landing a permanent injunction (PDF) against infamous Mac cloner Psystar.
The injunction, granted by Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, indefinitely bars Psystar Corp. from selling Mac OS X, as well as any devices that circumvent (or have circumvented) Mac OS X’s platform restrictions. This puts a major kink in Psystar’s business model which hoped to sell non-Apple computers preloaded with modified copies of OS X.
The injunction comes two weeks to the day after Psystar agreed to pay Apple $2.7 million in a comprehensive settlement struck in the same court. At the time, Psystar had requested that the settlement not extend to the firm’s Rebel EFI adapter which enabled users to perform their own OS X installations on non-Apple hardware, but today’s injunction soundly denies that request by enjoining Psystar from, “Manufacturing, distributing, preparing or using any product that creates or facilitates the reproduction or modification of Mac OS X on non-Apple computers.”
The injunction further prevents Psystar from:
- Infringing Apple’s copyrights in Mac OS X;
- Manufacturing, distributing, preparing or using any non-Apple computer installed with a reproduction or derivative work of Mac OS X;
- Circumventing any technological protection measure in Mac OS X;
- Possessing any technology, product, device, component, or part thereof that has been used to circumvent any technological protection measure in Mac OS X, and requiring Psystar to destroy any technology, product, device, component, or part thereof in its custody or control that has been used to circumvent any technological protection measure in Mac OS X;
- Manufacturing, importing, offering to the public, providing, or otherwise trafficking in circumvention devices using, containing, or capable of generating Apple’s decryption key, or any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof for use in circumventing any technological protection measure in Mac OS X; and
- Inducing, aiding, or assisting others in infringing Apple’s copyrights in Mac OS X or in circumventing any technological protection measure in Mac OS X.
The court does note, however, that Psystar is not barred from bringing a new motion before the court to specifically review the legality of the Rebel EFI adapter and future products.
“In sum, Rebel EFI will not be expressly excluded from the terms of the injunction,” Alsup writes. “It should be clear, however, that this ruling is without prejudice to Psystar bringing a new motion before the undersigned that includes real details about Rebel EFI, and opening itself up to formal discovery thereon.”
“Whether such a defense would be successful on the merits, or face preclusion or other hurdles, this order cannot predict. What is certain, however, is that until such a motion is brought, Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself held in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction.”
Under these terms it is clear that the present cases in California and Florida have come to an abrupt conclusion, but it should be believed that we have not heard the last of Psystar’s efforts to keep its business afloat.
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