Psystar Settles with Apple, Allowed to Sell “Open” Computers

As 2009 draws to a close, I’d have to say that of all the big tech news stories to happen over the past year, the back and forth between Psystar and Apple has got to be one of the most interesting. It all started back in April when the company announced that its Mac clone machines were shipping, and proof of hard product came just a week later. Of course, this is Apple we’re dealing with, and it’s not going to just sit idly why some small runt of a company clones its machines. So, it was no surprise to anyone that the company sued Psystar.

There’s been a lot that’s happened since the summer, but in the end, Apple came out victorious and Psystar was found to have been violating its trademarks. The most recent happening, though, is a mutual agreement to drop all pending suits, and for Psystar to agree to stop selling its PCs with Mac OS X pre-installed. The work-around, is that Psystar is still allowed to sell the same machines, but sans the OS, and allow their customers to do the dirty work once they receive it.

It seems a little bizarre that even this is no big deal as far as Apple is concerned, because the entire idea around Psystar is that its PCs will have Mac OS X installed on them. So whether or not the OS is pre-installed, the end-goal is the same… customers are going to get PCs from Psystar, and put Mac OS X on there, probably with the company’s own tools. So that in itself is odd, but at least it means Psystar can still exist… albeit in a slightly different way than originally intended.

This deal opens up the doors for other companies who want to take after Psystar, as it wouldn’t make sense to allow just one company to do this and none other. It’ll be interesting to see if that happens, because it seems likely to me that if this method of delivering a Mac clone grows in popularity, Apple is going to take another hard look at things and try to kill it all off. I simply can’t see Apple standing by if something like this grows. Of course, is there even a real demand for faux Macs? That’s my question.

It’s an interesting deal, because it looks like it wouldn’t necessarily stop Psystar from selling its Mac clones. Instead, the company would be limited to selling its “Open” line of computers without OS X preinstalled, and that responsibility would lie instead with customers. Apparently that’s a compromise Apple is willing to live with, and with good reason, since the Mac maker would have to go after many other clone makers if it wasn’t.