Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 31st Jul 2008 22:03 UTC
There are probably lots and lots of lawsuits going on every day in the technology world, and generally, they are quite uninteresting to all of us. Exceptions exist, of course, and the case of Apple and PsyStar is definitely one of them. It's a lawsuit that could test one of the most debated issues in the world of software: the EULA issue. To refresh your memory: PsyStar started offering Macintosh clones earlier this year, which caused quite the uproar in the Mac community. Apple was silent on the issue at first, but a few weeks ago the company decided to take legal action against PsyStar, claiming PsyStar violated Apple's copyright and license agreements (EULAs), and motivated others to do the same. While several legal experts agree that Apple's EULA will stand the test of court in The Netherlands, the situation in the US might be completely different. PsyStar seems prepared for the worst, as they have hired lawyers from Carr & Ferrell LLP, a firm who successfully fought Apple in court over IP issues before. I'm breaking out the popcorn, because this is hopefully going to be a big one.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
I doubt it will do much to determine the legality of EULAs in general - but it probably will have an impact on the enforceability of "software A must be run only on hardware B" clauses in EULAs. And as someone pointed out in a recent thread on the topic, it will probably also have implications for Microsoft's "no virtualization for Vista" EULA terms.
Personally, I hope Pystar wins. Can anyone imagine the uproar if E.g. Sony started including EULAs with Sony Music releases - stating that you must use Sony hardware for playback? Apple's hardware "lock-in" policies are no different (with the possible exception that there are people who actually want Apple's product).
As the saying goes, "if you can't stand the heat, then keep your OS the hell off commodity hardware."
Edited 2008-07-31 22:48 UTC