This past week, we brought you the story of Rudy and Robert Pedraza, the Miami brothers who have taken on Apple by hacking its OS X to run on cheap PCs.
Although the self-funded, self-taught programmers are taking on a computer giant, we wrote, they might just have a chance to win on their legal merits.
That chance just got slimmer. U.S. District Judge William Alsup has granted Apple a summary judgment, agreeing that Psystar infringed on its copyright.
"Psystar infringed Apple's exclusive rights to create derivative works of Mac OS X," Alsup writes, "by replacing original files in Mac OS X with unauthorized software files."
Alsup also agreed with Apple that Psystar violated portions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The judge, in the same ruling, tossed out all of Psystar's requests for a summary judgment.
So is this the end of the line for Psystar? No. There's still a good bit of legal conflict to sort out.
"We think that the court got the law wrong, particularly on
copyright misuse," Kiwi Camara, Psystar's lawyer, tells Riptide.
"Psystar will fight on in Florida and in the Court of Appeals."
Alsup
still has to rule on Apple's claims that Psystar violated contract law
by going against the click-through agreement on OS X. Complaints over
unfair competition, trademark infringement and trademark dilution
remain unresolved.
And Psystar's separate lawsuit against Apple in Florida, claiming that the company violated anti-trust laws, is ongoing.
But
there's no doubt: Alsup's ruling is a Messi-esque kick in the balls for
Psystar and the Pedrazas. Alsup has set hearings for later this month
to decide how much money Psystar owes Apple for the violations, and
there's a good chance the answer will be "a hell of a lot."
But let's be clear: No, we don't regret profiling these guys in light of Alsup's ruling. Why would we?
The
Pedraza's personal story is damned fascinating, and was never told
before we reported it. The legal arguments we've explored are valid and
interesting. None of that changes because a judge in California has
agreed with Apple on some key issues.
Read the full ruling: Summaryjudgment.pdf
