In an updated complaint filed in Florida, Psystar said “A declaration by this Court of the legal rights of Apple and Psystar with respect to Psystar computers running Mac OS X Snow Leopard would clarify, to put it bluntly, the legality of Psystar’s business — and would remove the substantial negative effect on Psystar’s business of continued uncertainty and legal wrangling between Apple and Psystar.”
The two companies have been battling in U.S. District Court in Northern California for months over whether or not Psystar can make and sell Mac clones without Apple’s consent. Psystar filed a case in Florida about two months ago that targets installing Snow Leopard on PCs while claiming the California case relates only to Leopard — the version of Mac OS X that Apple isn’t selling any more.
According to Computerworld, Psystar is alleging Apple is violating antitrust laws by saying it’s illegal for the company to buy Mac OS X discs and install the OS on non-Mac hardware, and that Apple’s complaints are damaging its reputation.
Psystar’s filing claims that Apple’s actions “have damaged and will damage Psystar in its business and property because they deny Psystar business that otherwise would go to Psystar by creating doubt about the legality of Psystar computers running Mac OS X Snow Leopard.”
Psystar is asking for an injunction that stops Apple from implying that it is doing anything outside the law — which by no small coincidence is the point the two companies are fighting over in court.
The Florida-based PC maker also contended that its recent release of Rebel EFI, its product that lets anyone install Mac OS X on a PC, is legal by claiming they are simply writing applications for the OS just like any other developer.
“Just as Microsoft writes Word to run with Mac OS X and Google writes its Web browser Chrome to run with Mac OS X, Psystar writes its software to run with Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” Psystar said. “In fact, the part of Mac OS X Snow Leopard that Psystar interacts with is within the open-source portion of Mac OS X and makes use of features of Mac OS X Snow Leopard designed to allow software developers to extend Mac OS X Snow Leopard to work with different hardware.”
Despite Psystar’s argument, Apple’s end user license agreement states that Mac OS X is to be installed and run only on actual Macintosh hardware. Whether or not Psystar can convince the Federal Courts in California and Florida that it is acting within the law remains to be seen, but the likelihood that a Judge will tell Apple it is blocked from discussing a key point in both cases seems slim.