Mac Cloner Psystar Files for Bankruptcy

It’s been a long road, guys.

Rumor has it Mac clone company Psystar has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Florida. Mac Observer today reports that the company has filed for Chapter 11, temporarily slowing down legal proceedings with Cupertino-based Apple. MO reports that all legal actions involving the PC maker are automatically put on hold while the bankruptcy court begins its proceedings.

Psystar kicked things off in April of last year, when it started selling cheap desktop computers with Mac OS X preinstalled. Apple is, of course, attempting to sue the pants off of Psystar claiming the sale of the Open computers violates the OS X end user license agreement which states the software can only be installed on an Apple-branded machine.

In the last year there’s been copious amounts of back and forth between the two companies and there’s been tons of speculation as to how a small company like Psystar has managed to survive a year long legal battle with Apple. The most prevalent theory is that Psystar is backed by a much larger company which is providing finances for the lawsuit. According to Mac Observer, a court will hold a hearing on June 5 where Psystar's equity creditors will be revealed. In other words, if there is/was a company in the shadows, forking out cash to the company peddling Mac clones, we’re about to find out who. Get the popcorn out, guys, this one is going to be juicy.