Landmark ruling
Apple
cloner Psystar has won a major victory against Apple in its cloning case.
Psystar was in deep do do when Judge William Alsup of the US District Court
in Northern California dismissed its antitrust claims against Apple. However in an amended complaint, Psystar accused Apple of copyright misuse,
as well as unfair competition violations based on its alleged copyright
misuse.
Judge Alsup, noted that in a previous case, Practice Management
Information v. American Medical Association, misusing copyright does not
invalidate it. However it would stop Apple enforcing it if it was misusing
it. To make matters worse for Apple a defendant in a copyright infringement
suit need not prove an antitrust violation to prevail on a copyright misuse
defence, the Judge said.
Psystar now claims that Apple has attempted to
extend the reach of its copyrights by tying them to computer hardware not
otherwise protected by the Copyright Act.