Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 27th Aug 2008 22:21 UTC, submitted by tzineos
Mac clone maker Psystar plans to file its answer to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit Tuesday as well as a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple engages in anticompetitive business practices. Miami-based Psystar, owned by Rudy Pedraza, will sue Apple under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple's tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is "an anticompetitive restrain of trade", according to attorney Colby Springer of antitrust specialists Carr & Ferrell. Psystar is requesting that the court find Apple's EULA void, and is asking for unspecified damages. Psystar's attorneys are calling Apple's allegations of Psystar's copyright infringement "misinformed and mischaracterized". Psystar argues that its OpenComputer product is shipped with a fully licensed, unmodified copy of Mac OS X, and that the company has simply "leveraged open source-licensed code including Apple's OS" to enable a PC to run the Mac operating system.
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Member since:2006-11-12
I don't think Psystar *can* legitimately purchase copies of the software from Apple to re-sell.
The buyer's intention has nothing to do with whether or not a purchase is legitimate. If Psystar buys 1000 copies of OSX from Amazon.com, then that is a legitimate transaction.
They cannot* sell you a copy of OSX installed on the machine themselves, since Apple isn't selling them redistributable copies.
Any entity (person, company, government, school, space alien, etc.) can resell any property that the entity has purchased (with certain restrictions on hazardous items). Whatever the original seller thinks or feels does not matter.
In addition, it doesn't matter if the software is installed onto a machine --- the property purchased and resold (OSX software) is still the same property, regardless. I would guess that one buying a Psystar machine also receives the official, boxed copy, along with the machine.
However, if Psystar bought one copy of OSX and installed that single copy onto multiple machines (without including a separately purchased copy with each machine), then they would be breaking copyright law, which can be prosecuted as a criminal offense. It doesn't appear that Psystar is committing this crime.
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Member since:
2006-04-18
Apple has no legal grounds for saying that Psystar can't install a legitimately purchased copy of OS X on it.
That's the rub, I don't think Psystar *can* legitimately purchase copies of the software from Apple to re-sell. If they made you buy OSX and sent it to them to install, they're selling a service; that's OK. If they send you a a computer and a loader disk that requires a copy of OSX that you purchase, also OK. They cannot* sell you a copy of OSX installed on the machine themselves, since Apple isn't selling them redistributable copies.
* This gets back to EULA law. Is it legal for a company (or person) to re-sell anything, or can the original selling company limit re-selling of its products? An individual has fair-use rights and whatnot that cover them, but I'm not sure a company has the same fair-use rights, or that re-selling is fair-use.
Edited 2008-08-28 16:35 UTC