Judge Dismisses Psystar's Anti-Trust Counterclaim Against Apple

[MacRumors]

A California judge has dismissed a counterclaim from Psystar which asserted that Apple was violating federal and state anti-trust laws in limiting the sale and use of Mac OS X on Apple branded computers..

But in a 19-page order passed down on Tuesday, Judge William Alsup largely reject Psystar's claims and granted Apple's motion to have the countersuit thrown out of court should the clone maker not better its argument through an amended complaint that can be filed no later than Monday December 8th.

AppleInsider notes that Psytar attempted to define a "Mac OS market" in which Apple held a monopoly. Apple, of course, successfully disputed this definition of a "market" with which the judge agreed.

"Apple asks its customers to purchase Mac OS knowing that it is to be used only with Apple computers," he wrote. "It is certainly entitled to do so."

Psystar is a small company which sells a Mac clone using off-the-shelf PC parts and a modified version of Mac OS X Leopard. Apple sued Psystar over these products and that case is still pending.

Article Link: Judge Dismisses Psystar's Anti-Trust Counterclaim Against Apple

 

[Consultant]

Oh wow, a judge who understands intellectual property laws and technology!!! Fantastic!

 

[GeekLawyer]

That was very predictable. And welcome.

 

[PlaceofDis]

i can't actually believe that they thought their shaky ground would last. be interesting to see what they come up with by next month.

 

[kjs862]

So what does this mean... can someone exlpain?

 

[~Shard~]

Definitely good news. Psystar, nice try, but it's only a matter of time for you now...

 

[Blue Velvet]

Oh good. A new Psystar thread.

I'm not surprised by this decision; I wonder if they can or will appeal against this part of the case.

 

[The Tall One]

Apple needs the competition I think, since anyone using an Apple knows how terrible Windows is. Apple charges ridiculous prices, and they know it. It won't be long until all of this backfires on them and Microsoft becomes the underdog.

 

[czachorski]

Makes perfectly good sense. The statement "it is certainly entitled to do so" will irritate many naysayers around here, but is absolutely correct.

 

[Twilight Elk]

So what does this mean... can someone exlpain?

PsyStar counter-sued Apple for restricting OS X to their own computers. Now that this particular case has been dismissed, Apple can, in fact, allow to keep their Macintosh operating system to their own products.

This does not, however, count for Apple's claim against Psystar for infringing on their rights and using the Macintosh OS on Psystar products, which is still going on.


(If there are inaccuracies in my summary, please point them out)

 

[czachorski]

Apple needs the competition I think, since anyone using an Apple knows how terrible Windows is. Apple charges ridiculous prices, and they know it. It won't be long until all of this backfires on them and Microsoft becomes the underdog.

There's two sides to every transaction, and every single "ridiculous" price that Apple charges is countered by a customer on the other side of the transaction who saw value in conducting the transaction at that price.

 

[schneb]

Apple charges what the market will bear. That said, pricing too high brings alternatives that people will turn to for a second look. It would behoove Apple, this coming MacWorld, to introduce a Psystar-killer box that will silence these upstarts once and for all. This would be a far more lucrative response then going in to court every other month.

Psystar's complaint had nothing to stand on. The fact is that OSX being only able to run on Apple hardware is as legitimate as the Blackberry OS only able to run on its hardware.

 

[JML42691]

If they can appeal it, then I suspect that they will, but won't get far with that either. I kind of hope that this company gets completely shut down after all of this.

 

[plumbingandtech]

Apple needs the competition I think, since anyone using an Apple knows how terrible Windows is. Apple charges ridiculous prices, and they know it. It won't be long until all of this backfires on them and Microsoft becomes the underdog.

Apple has competition.

It's called _the rest of the computer industry_....

And that's just what the judge said today.

 

[paric]

It won't be long until all of this backfires on them and Microsoft becomes the underdog.

Backfires? Oh, yeah. I'm sure Apple dreads the day that they have a greater than 50% market share, and Microsoft is the underdog.

 

[Kwill]

Paystar's business model and legal defense appears to be contrived from the imagination of a hacker kid.

 

[kolax]

Good.

I hope OS X stays on only Apple Macs.

 

[paric]

Apple needs the competition I think, since anyone using an Apple knows how terrible Windows is. Apple charges ridiculous prices, and they know it.

Windows systems are cheaper, and are terrible.

Apple systems are better and more expensive.

Do you really not see the correlation? You get what you pay for!

 

[rjfiske]

Apple needs the competition I think, since anyone using an Apple knows how terrible Windows is. Apple charges ridiculous prices, and they know it. It won't be long until all of this backfires on them and Microsoft becomes the underdog.

So who gets to define "ridiculous"? You? Me? A government agency? The open market? I don't think that Apple knows their prices are ridiculous. I think the extremely poor build of inexpensive PC's coupled with a frustratingly poor Windows operating system (which we're in agreement on) is what's ridiculous.

And I am not sure if we'll see Microsoft become the underdog in my lifetime, at least as it pertains to operating systems. If it does, I'm guessing the threat will come from Google, not Apple. I could be wrong. Just my opinion.

Having said all of that, I also think Apple needs the competition. I still believe that the competition currently exists and we don't need a government agency to define it.

 

[Consultant]

So what does this mean... can someone exlpain?

Judge said: the information shyster submitted included evidence that there IS competition (example is Apple running Ads to bring people in from the competition, if there is no competition, ads are a waste of money), and shyster suit is full of fail.

Thus it will be dropped unless they can provide any evidence to back up their countersuit.

 

[kamchadal]

Better for the world....

It is better to stand up and lose, than never to stand up. I think that Apple should give to those who would give to Apple. It is the best policy. I like it.

 

[Clive At Five]

Well, the counterclaim was completely misdirected. If they are to have any chance at having a case at all, they need to pursue anticompetitive "tying" arguments.

 

[paric]

I think that Apple should give to those who would give to Apple. It is the best policy. I like it.

They do.

You give them money, they give you a computer.

I like it too.

 

[Beric]

My dream would be to no longer have to use Apple's overpriced, under-specced, overheating products to run their excellent OS. But this lawsuit was stupid and destined to fail. I really don't think there's any fair legal route to force Apple to open its OS. But knowing our courts, ridiculous things can happen by activist judges. Regardless, the only truly fair thing is for Apple to choose to open its OS.

 

[bradl]

Windows systems are cheaper, and are terrible.

Apple systems are better and more expensive.

Do you really not see the correlation? You get what you pay for!

But you totally miss the point, and sounds very close to fanboi.

Name one machine outside of a Mac that you can install OS X on.

Windows? can go on a Mac, PC, or even a DEC Alpha.

Linux? Macs, PCs, Sun workstations/servers, DEC Alphas, SGIs, Zseries, ARM, the entire lot.

OS X? Only Apple. What I believe Psystar was trying to do was correlate OS X only being used on Macs to Internet Explorer and the issues they had in the EU.

Yes, there is competition as far as the rest of the industry is concerned, but when it comes to OS X, Apple saying that it can only go onto Macs does start to smell of antitrust.

BL.