Judge rules against Psystar

Hackintosh creator Psystar received a crushing blow in the courts last week, with Judge William Alsup handing down a summary judgement ruling its resale of Apple's operating system illegal.

As reported over on CNET, Judge Alsup found that Psystar's resale of Apple's Mac OS X operating system on third-party hardware "has violated Apple's exclusive reproduction right, distribution right, and right to create derivative works."

Arguments by Psystar that its 'freeing' of the operating system to be installed on third-party, non-Apple approved hardware represented fair use was outright rejected as part of the summary judgement, with Judge Alsup stating that Psystar "does not even attempt to address the four factors used to determine fair use."

Also upheld was Apple's complaint that the company's methods of bypassing the hardware restrictions inherent in the operating system - which prevent its installation on non-Apple manufactured systems, despite similarities and compatibilities in their hardware - represented a clear violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, both in the methods the company itself uses to install Mac OS X on third-party hardware and in the utilities it sells to allow end users to do the same.

Although the ruling will come as a blow to Psystar, the judgement does not include an injunction preventing further sale: rather, a hearing to determine exactly what punishment the company should receive is set for the 14th of December, with a trial set for January next year if the two companies do not agree on Apple's other claims including breach of contract and trademark offences.

Do you believe that Psystar should be allowed to sell non-Apple Mac OS X machines, or is Apple well within its rights to shut the little shop down once and for all? Share your thoughts over in the forums.