Linked by David Adams on Fri 3rd Oct 2008 15:24 UTC
Gutsy/foolhardy Mac clone maker Psystar responded in August to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit with an anti-trust lawsuit against Apple. Earlier this week, Apple's lawyers filed a motion to have the suit dismissed, calling it "deeply flawed." In its statement, Apple contends: "One of the bedrock principles of antitrust law is that a manufacturer's unilateral decision concerning how to distribute its product and with whom it will deal cannot violate the Sherman Act."
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Member since:
2005-10-12
They do not need a license to redistribute OSX. No-one needs a license to resell items bought at retail. Its perfectly legal. All you need is a customer with money and willing to buy. Doesn't matter whether its cars, books, OSX, Windows, lawnmowers.
No, this is not happening, at least it does not seem to be, from their site. What they seem to be doing is having the customer download a package, which then goes to the Apple site where the update is hosted, and downloads it, and then installs it. With some modifications. Again, if this is what they are doing, there is no copyright violation.
It will be argued that your description of what is legal is exactly what Psystar is doing. On your behalf, they are buying a retail copy of OSX for you. They are then installing it for you on the hardware of your choice, which they assemble for you. They charge a fee for all this. How is it different than if I offer the following service: lots of people want (for instance) Mac Minis in larger cases with room for bigger hard drives. I buy them, modify them, put them in a new case, copy over the partitions, and sell them. Do you think I need a license to do this? Why? Of course I do not, any more than I need a license to repaint you a Chevy in a lovely custom shade of bright pink, and if enough people want them, I may take to carrying a carlot full of the things, rather than doing them on special order.