Psystar and Apple Reach Settlement; Doral Clone-Maker May Live Another Day

By Tim Elfrink Tue., Dec. 1 2009 at 2:34 PM

Categories: Business, Technology

Don't write Psystar's obituary just yet.

Photo by C. Stiles

Rudy Pedraza stands in front of Psystar headquarters.

Psystar, which we recently profiled in depth, has been locked in a heated legal battle with Apple since last year because the tiny Doral-based firm sells unauthorized "clones" of Mac computers, running Mac OSX on PC hardware.

Apple claimed copyright violations, and on November 13, a judge in California agreed, granting the computer giant a summary judgment on a number of the key issues. The future looked bleak for the young Pedraza brothers, the company's founders.

So it came as a shock to the tech world when Psystar announced this morning that Apple had agreed to partially settle the case. Even more surprising: The settlement might not force Psystar to stop selling its clones.

Until the full filing appears online, the exact details of the settlement remain vague. Here's what they have to say for now:

Psystar and Apple today entered into a partial settlement that is embodied in a stipulation that will be filed with the court tomorrow. Psystar has agreed on certain amounts to be awarded as statutory damages on Apple's copyright claims in exchange for Apple's agreement not to execute on these awards until all appeals in this matter have concluded. Moreover, Apple has agreed to voluntarily dismiss all its trademark, trade-dress and state-law claims. This partial settlement eliminates the need for a trial and reduces the issues before this court to the scope of any permanent injunction on Apple's copyright claims.