Apple Requests Suit Be Dismissed

      by Wyatt Walter

In response to Apple-clone maker Psystar’s counter-suit against Apple, Apple has requested that the counter-suit be dropped saying it is “deeply flawed”. For a little background on the suits, see my comments from a while back on what Psystar’s suit could do to OS X in the (unlikely, in my opinion) event that Psystar wins.

In Psystar’s counter-suit they rely upon the courts finding that Apple is creating a monopoly by restricting its OS to only its hardware. Apple has requested the suit be dismissed since this idea is very flawed logically. Apple is entitled to decide how it wants to license its OS however it wants since it’s the maker of the software. If they want to charge $1000 for the OS, that’s their choice. They may not do well as a company, but that’s fine. Restricting an OS to a hardware platform is perfectly acceptable and has been for years. In fact, the fact that Microsoft didn’t made them successful through the 90s and up to today. There are good arguments on both sides of this, but that’s really up to Apple.

If Psystar’s claim that the OS cannot be only tied to that hardware and doing so is wrong becomes reality, it could have some serious implications for the industry. What would stop Nintendo from suing Microsoft because it won’t allow it to license the Xbox OS to run on a different piece of hardware on its own? After all, all embedded devices are just miniature computers with proprietary (or maybe open) operating systems that are only allowed on that device. Apple has a very strong argument and I would hope that this madness can end soon so everyone can get back to their lives instead of trying to distract judges from the fact that they sold illegitimate products with the true owner’s business practices.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Oct 3rd, 2008