Apple Secure Psystar Permanent Injunction; Rebel EFI Hack App Sold "At Its Peril"

Apple have secured a permanent injunction against clone-Mac manufacturer Psystar, which means the copycat vendor must stop selling hardware running OS X by December 31st 2009.  The ruling also prevents Psystar from "intentionally inducing, aiding, assisting, abetting or encouraging any other person or entity to infringe" on Apple's copyrights, or indeed "playing any part in a product intended to circumvent Apple's methods for controlling Mac OS X".  However the ruling fell short of specifically naming Psystar's Rebel EFI software, which allows some non-Apple PCs to run OS X, as U.S. District Judge William Alsup felt the company did not sufficiently explain the app's intention.

However, should Psystar continue to sell the $50 Rebel EFI app, there's a good chance that it could fall foul of the broader scope of the injunction.  Alsup said "Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction".

Psystar had already stopped selling its clone Macs after an earlier agreement with Apple that saw the Cupertino company agree to hold off on collecting a $2.7m damages settlement until all of the infringer's appeals had been exhausted.  Psystar still maintains that Apple is guilty of "anticompetitive attempts to tie Mac OS X Snow Leopard to its Macintosh line of computers", which remains the subject of another lawsuit being decided in Florida courts.