Court Dismisses Psystar’s Claims Against Apple

A Federal court judge has dismissed Psystar’s anti-competitive lawsuit against Apple. Northern District of California Federal Court judge William Alsup handed down a 19-page ruling that said Apple is not abusing its position in the market.

Psystar, the maker of Apple clones or “Hackintoshes”, had alleged that the company illegally restricts installation of its Mac OS operating systems on computers.

Psystar began selling Mac clones, complete with the Leopard operating system, earlier this year. Unfortunately for them, Apple’s EULA expressly restricts the installation of Mac OS X to genuine Apple hardware. Apple sued Psystar in July and, you guessed it, Psystar counter sued.

Psystar lawyers alleged, under federal and state anti-competitive laws, that Apple prevents people from entering the Mac OS market. Apple has always contended that there really isn’t a Mac OS market because the computers and operating system are married into a single product. In addition, Judge Alsup said that Psystar couldn’t prove that Mac OS is “so unique that it suffers no actual or potential competitors.”

What Psystar sells isn’t unique and hobbyists have been creating “hackintoshes” for years. There are complete guides on the Internet and the hardware portion of the build is actually quite easy and inexpensive. Lifehacker published a how-to article last year detailing a build for approximately $800.

Judge Alsup has allowed Psystar to file a counter argument by December 8th. Apple’s case against Psystar continues as normal.

Both Apple and Psystar haven’t given any public statements about the ruling.