Mac clone maker vows to fight Apple's EULA in Court

News Type: Other — Seeded on Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:15 AM EDT

Article Source: MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

The Miami-based Mac clone vendor Psystar says that Apple's restrictive licensing terms violate US antitrust laws and wants to fight the Cupertino-based company in xourt. Psystar's cheap Mac alternative, which hit the Web on Monday and brought down the company's Website, costs about $399, but when run with Mac OS X Leopard represents a direct violation of Apple's end-user license agreement, which forbids third-party installations of Leopard, according to InformationWeek.

Published to:

Tim.'s Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: Newsvine Technology
Regions: none

What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

3.5

{"commentId":1697851,"authorDomain":"timstown"}

Tim.

What's xourt?

{"commentId":1697851,"threadId":"251015","contentId":"1434292","authorDomain":"timstown"}

2 votes

#1 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:20 AM EDT

{"commentId":1697937,"authorDomain":"onlineapps"}

Andy Min

Interesting. I wonder if they'll actually win.

{"commentId":1697937,"threadId":"251015","contentId":"1434292","authorDomain":"onlineapps"}

2 votes

#2 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:39 AM EDT

{"commentId":1697997,"authorDomain":"leveldown"}

leveldown

I doubt it. To win under antitrust laws they have to not only prove that Apple are a monopoly but that they are abusing that monopoly. To prove the monopoly aspect they have to prove their is no viable alternative to a Mac i.e. A Windows or Linux PC. Even if they could prove that they would then have to prove they were abusing it, i.e. showing that a Mac was extortionately more expensive than a comparably specced PC, a quick visit to dell.com invalidates this part.

I don't think they have a hope.

{"commentId":1697997,"threadId":"251015","contentId":"1434292","authorDomain":"leveldown"}

#2.1 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:53 AM EDT

{"commentId":1697955,"authorDomain":"masternav"}

MasterNav

Most likely not. The Psystar employee obviously hasn't the foggiest idea about what's going on to make statements as they have. I'd wait until Psystar executives or official reps come out with comments. Anonymous employees making statements are hazardous.

{"commentId":1697955,"threadId":"251015","contentId":"1434292","authorDomain":"masternav"}

2 votes

#3 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:42 AM EDT

{"commentId":1697999,"authorDomain":"timstown"}

Tim.

Yeah, I'd hope the company itself wouldn't be stupid enough to take this to court.

{"commentId":1697999,"threadId":"251015","contentId":"1434292","authorDomain":"timstown"}

2 votes

#3.1 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:54 AM EDT

{"commentId":1698286,"authorDomain":"janeway77"}

Michael the Great

Actually, Apple MAY run into antitrust problems with unlawful tying. The elements of the claim typically require (1) two separate products or services are involved, (2) the sale or agreement to sell one is conditioned on the purchase of the other, (3) the seller has sufficient economic power in the market for the tying product to enable it to restrain trade in the market for the tied product, and (4) a not insubstantial amount of interstate commerce in the tied product is affected.

1. Apple Hardware and Apple Software
2. You cannot use Apple software UNLESS you also use Apple hardware
3. Nobody else manufactures OS X except Apple, so they have 100% lock on the OS X market.
4. Millions or Billions of dollars of interstate sales affected.

So, you see, there MIGHT have more of a fight than you think. Element 3 is where the battle will be fought, as is frequently the case with intellectual property.

{"commentId":1698286,"threadId":"251015","contentId":"1434292","authorDomain":"janeway77"}

1 vote

#4 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:43 AM EDT

{"commentId":1698462,"authorDomain":"leveldown"}

leveldown

There will be no problems here as stated above all of these issues only become important only if you can show Apple have a monopoly on the market which they do not. I can quite happily have a PC from another manufacturer running Linux or Windows. I wonder if I can get Nintendo for illegal tying of the Super Mario games to their consoles? No? I wonder why, could it be because I could just as easily go and buy an Xbox or Play Station? And I wonder what Nintendo's reaction would be if I reverse engineered one of their games to run on an Xbox?

{"commentId":1698462,"threadId":"251015","contentId":"1434292","authorDomain":"leveldown"}

1 vote

#4.1 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:14 PM EDT

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"251015","isPrivate":false}

AppleInsider \| Mac clone maker vows to test Apple on OS X licensing terms	Apple Insider	Wed Apr 16	8
Fake Mac Maker Will Fight Apple, But Might Be Fake Itself	Wired News	Wed Apr 16	0
The Big Switch: IBM testing switch to Macs	Apple Insider	Wed Apr 16	11
A Mac Clone for $399?	Ars Technica	Mon Apr 14	0
Psystar to offer a computer with the specs of a Mac Mini... for half the price.	Guardian Unlimited	Thu Apr 17	10

TIM.

Backyard

Mac clone maker vows to fight Apple's EULA in Court

Published to:

FUN STUFF:

COMPANY STUFF:

LEGAL STUFF: