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Mac cloner guilty, but "hackintosh" tools will persist

// November 16th, 2009 // Tech News

Apple has won a landmark victory against Mac clone maker Psystar, though it doesn’t spell doom for the rest of the hackintosh industry just yet. US District Judge William Alsup ruled late last Friday that Psystar had violated Apple’s copyrights when distributing Mac OS X with its machines, and that the company was also in violation of the anti-circumvention provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. As a result, Judge Alsup dismissed Psystar’s counterclaims and ruled in favor of Apple, but Apple still has a long road ahead if wants to shut down other hackintoshers. The legal battle between Apple and Psystar  began more than a year ago in July of 2008, several months after Psystar introduced its first bargain-basement Mac clone for $399 that could run Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Since then, the legal fight has been a drama-filled soap opera—Psystar’s original countersuit was thrown out completely , followed by a bankruptcy filing that revealed that Psystar owed its law firm more than $88,000. In July of 2009, Psystar changed its mind on the whole bankruptcy angle —which Apple believed was a stall tactic to begin with—and switched to Jammie Thomas lawyer Kiwi Camara.