Apple wins attack of the clones

Apple has won its long legal battle against clone Mac maker Psystar.

Psystar came to the attention of Apple's many lawyers in July 2008 a few months after it started selling a $400 box capable of running Apple's OSX.

Apple claimed infringement of copyright, trademarks and of its licensing agreements while Psystar claimed fair use rights.

Judge William Alsup's court of Northern California ruled in Apple's favour on all counts. Psystar is now likely to face claims for damages from Steve Jobs. Psystar is attempting a parallel defence in Florida, where the firm is based.

The court heard that Psystar installed a copy of Mac OSX onto a Mac mini. It removed the bootload and removed and replaced certain kernel extensions so the software would run on non-Mac hardware.

There are some issues around trademarks, breach of contract and unfair competition still to be sorted out.

The court will reconvene 14 December. Groklaw, as ever, has the details and a copy of the actual judgement.

Back in the olden days Apple used to support a variety of clone makers offering non-Apple hardware which could run Apple software but the plug was pulled when Jobs returned to the company in the late 90s. ®