Chicago (IL) – Apple is preparing the big guns in its case against Mac clone maker Psystar. After a complaint that Psystar has violated the DMCA, the company now claims that there are individuals and corporations that helped Psystar to crack Mac OS X. An amended complaint also expands previous DMCA copyright violation charges and indicates that the company’s own investigation has led a conspiracy theory.

Groklaw's Erwan Hamon recently pointed to a complaint filed by Apple, which builds on top an original complaint that accused Psystar of violating the DMCA with new allegations. Apple now says that Psystar has been deliberately pushing its customers into a copyright infringement practice by offering "restore disk", as well as instructions and the technical support that allowed customers to install Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware by themselves.

The amended complaint adds that Psystar violated Apple's SuperDrive trademark by using it on its website and marketing materials and also mentions that Psystar's Xserve clone dubbed OpenServ 800 and OpenPro "seemingly named after Apple's MacPro." Interestingly, Apple noted that "for the OpenPro, online commentators have stated that the OpenPro's 'internal hardware design is only average compared with that of a Mac Pro," adding that Psystar may have "failed to properly connect the graphics card" in some cases.


Conspiracy theory

The most striking part of the amended complaint is paragraph 18 that mentions ten John Does that allegedly helped Psystar to hack Mac OS X. Apple specifically stated that these John Does represent either individuals or corporations, based on its "information and belief”:

From the filing:

"On information and belief, persons other than Psystar are involved in Psystar’s unlawful and improper activities described in this Amended Complaint. The true names or capacities, whether individual, corporate, or otherwise, of these persons are unknown to Apple. Consequently they are referred to herein as John Does 1 through 10 (collectively the “John Doe Defendants”). On information and belief, the John Doe Defendants are various individuals and/or corporations who have infringed Apple’s intellectual property rights, breached or induced the breach of Apple’s license agreements and violated state and common law unfair competition laws. Apple will seek leave to amend this complaint to show the unknown John Doe Defendants’ true names and capacities when they are ascertained."

This claim basically alleges that a larger plot may be behind the apparently small computer maker. A seemingly calm Psystar and its behavior are certainly unusual for a small company hit with a series of accusations by one of world's largest corporations and may add some credibility to the conspiracy theory. Groklaw's Erwan Hamon echoed this by wondering "why a major law firm would take on what seems like a fly-by-night's case," especially when Psystar has been "so bold in continuing to sell its products."

LOL

Dec 05, 2008 16:00     

Yep the NSA and FBI where in on this one... Come on Apple OSX install is not that hard to hack.
Action Jackson report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

why wouldn't they be calm

Dec 05, 2008 16:14     

" A seemingly calm Psystar and its behavior are certainly unusual for a small company hit with a series of accusations by one of world's largest corporations and may add some credibility to the conspiracy theory" I'm sure they were expecting this as of the day they started as a matter of course, so remaining calm in the face of all of this is to be expected. So...their apparent calmness is in no way evidence of a conspiracy theory. It just means that if you're playing hockey, you expect to get checked.

Jim L report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +6

I believe so..

Dec 05, 2008 16:39     

Think of this. When apple announced that will move to Intel platform, Michael Dell said that Dell will be more that happy to build computers loaded with Mac OSX. If you are Michael Dell, you can't do that directly because if you lose, you can lose your entire company, But if you pay to a very little company to give it a try, if they lose the demand, they can not pay more than the value of their very little company, and the big company behind them, will lose nothing and learns so much.

Sergey report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -7

oh my god. it's the end of the world.

Dec 05, 2008 17:43     

big deal. it's typical lawyer mumbo jumbo wording to cover their asxes. What's the big deal? Of course there is some one that hacked it. Could be anthing Pystar downloaded from web or anything or pay for a hacker or something. All the lawyer said is that someone hacked it and they had no idea who. What's the big deal!? Does TG Daily has to report on every line of anything that is Apple retard related? Can't they report on something that is really real tech news? like they use to instead of now become a apple mouth piece?

yo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -4

apple wins, apple loses.

Dec 05, 2008 18:58     

if apple wins, apple will lose. sounds like a paradox, but think about it: if apple wins against psystar and psystar has to stop this, Apple will only show the world just how much of an intolerant bully they really are and how they would sell their own mother if it helped them take more money away from ignorant average joes. if Microsoft were to ever try something like this, they would have to close their books, just think back of the IE4 antitrust case, it left nasty marks on MS. Apple should have seen this coming, they move to a hardware architecture that has been used in the PC world for so long, of course they have to make their OS compatible with that architecture and of course someone will figure out a way to make non-apple-branded systems with the same architecture work with Mac Os. it supports the hardware architecture after all. I don't know whether I should hope apple wins the case or lose the case if they win, they show the world just how much of a bully they are, but psystar has to stop. if they lose, psystar can continue and show the world Apple is selling macs at prices we call daylight robbery, but people will not properly see how apple is no better than MS, if not even worse.

JohnnyricoMC report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +8

No big deal, unless...

Dec 06, 2008 07:45     

...Microsoft is one of the John Does. Or Linux fanboys. Wouldn't expect it, but it should be fun.
salgado18 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

So???

Dec 06, 2008 11:16     

If you're not afraid of the apple legal team you have major corperate support and are part of a conspiracy theory? Maybe they're doing it to keep paying their own lawyers.. you know-- just a thought
suavey report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What is good for the goose is good for the gander...

Dec 06, 2008 17:20     

I think if the apple image is shattered, so much the better for consumers. People need to understand that apple is a company that is just as willing to screw consumers as the next company, they are just better at controlling their image than other companies. So, the way I see it, whether psystar wins or loses we as consumers have a potential win. No matter the outcome, I hope that people come to realize that apple has gotten away with many of the things that we damn MS for and put a stop to it. We ought to apply the same rules to all the companies in order to make sure that the consumers derive the most benefit. -Zorak

Zorak report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +4

Action Jackson says OS X is not hard to hack. Total...

Dec 06, 2008 22:35     

Action Jackson says OS X is not hard to hack. Totally irrelevant, that's what the laws are there for. In correlation with JohnnyricoMC's comment one must realise that unlike Microsoft, who is a "software" company, Apple is a "hardware" company. If the OS is allowed to run on generic boxes Apple will get kicked in the pants financially because of loss in sales revenue of hardware. Not to mention the fact that the user experience with totally degrade. A great user experience is something that Windows has always lacked, mainly because they can't write code for EVERY hardware configuration it will run on. Apple doesn't have this problem. Seriously I hope Apple wins so MS still has some competition.

blue07 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -6

Corporations to hack OSX?

Dec 07, 2008 01:51     

When it can easily be done single handedly?
superhobo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Re: blue07

Dec 07, 2008 04:39     

"In correlation with JohnnyricoMC's comment one must realise that unlike Microsoft, who is a "software" company, Apple is a "hardware" company. If the OS is allowed to run on generic boxes Apple will get kicked in the pants financially because of loss in sales revenue of hardware." Oh, ok. It would hurt Apple's bottom line. Well, that completely erases the antitrust issue. I remember pricing a macbook in perhaps 2005. At the time, 1gb RAM boards of the same speed were going for about forty dollars, I recall thinking this after picking my jaw up off the floor... Apple wanted SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS for the upgrade. That's not a hardware company. Charging anyone $660 for a $40 board that takes all of ten seconds labor to snap in is pure robbery, nothing else. Consumers should be able to run OSX (of which I am not personally a fan) on any hardware able to run it; disabling this ability to protect a profit margin that is almost criminal is the reason we have antitrust laws in the first place. I will not buy Apple's products because I see them as shadier then MS, and I cant stand MS. Anybody defending Apple's ability to do this as legal or moral is a moron, or a shareholder. Gee, a captcha style graphical login, how totally necessary, because, you know, the vandalism on the comments was really getting out of hand < / sarcasm >

Scott report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +6

true antitrust

Dec 07, 2008 13:52     

you know, actually apple IS in violation of antitrust laws in several countries: you can buy OSX seperately, yet Apple disallows you to use it on any hardware other than their own. that's forcing consumers to buy product X after buying product Y in order to be able to use product Y. mac OS X being only allowed to run on a mac is just an extreme version of the evil software-enabling dongle. if Psystar sells its systems without an OS preinstalled, Apple hasn't got a foot to stand on as it's the costumers installing OSX, not psystar.

JohnnyricoMC report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

Anti-RealityWarpField

Dec 07, 2008 23:29     

They think their product can not be compromised by just one person. Wake up from that PR dream pls!
Vic38 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

wrong action jackson

Dec 10, 2008 15:55     

"unlike Microsoft, who is a "software" company," Actually actionjackson, MSFT is both a software and hardware company. If you cloned an xbox they'd come after you even harder than Apple is Psystar. The ridiculous part of all of this is that the DMCA makes cloning or "reverse-engineering" as it used to be called illegal. If the DCMA was around in the early '80s there never would be a DELL, or Gateway, etc... there would still only be three computer makers: Apple, IBM, and Commodore, TRS-80 etc... ones.

robocoastie report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0