Apple Taking Mac Clone Psystar to Court

Who didn't see this coming? "Hackintosh" maker is going to get their day in court as it is sued by Apple.

Apple Inc. has long held that no one can make an Apple Mac but Apple, (and maybe God). But then several months ago, a small storage company, Psystar, decided that this was just not right. After all, IBM computers are made by everyone and you can have just about any operating system on them to boot.

Psystar advertised the Open Computer, starting at just $399, and initially users were able to get Leopard on them at no extra cost though that has changed. The price has gone up slightly for the preinstalled Mac OS X Leopard but it can still be done, and of Apple will have none of it.

When Psystar first announced the Open Computer, a few hours after the site went live with the computer, the site went down and stayed down for several hours. Many believed that the Apple lawyers had their way with the small firm and indeed they had. With a few name changes and some changes in verbiage, Psystar was again back up and selling, but not without a few hiccups.

It has been quiet now for about three months or so. The Psystar site has remained up and it seemed that the company has continued to find a way to sell inexpensive computers that have Leopard OS preinstalled and will still update too. But you can't continue to sell computers through a site that has the sales pitch "Experts and Geniuses: I Want a Hackintosh" and not anger powers at Apple.

Now Apple has filed the suit on July 3rd in the U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Fransisco, and the parties are scheduled to meed on the case in a conference on October 22nd.

A spokesperson at Psystar has stated that they believe that the ban on Mac clones won't stand up in court. At the same time, Apple said that it believes that Psystar has stolen and is reselling its intellectual property and that Apple is seeking damages and penalties.