Apple and Psystar agree to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
The Apple vs. Psystar legal tiff takes an interesting direction with both companies agreeing to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
As opposed to the public deathmatch of a trial, the companies have chosen to take the route of ADR, which means that both parties will meet outside of a trial to come to an agreement on how to settle this issue (background 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6). The outcome of these negotiations could remain secret, so we might never know how things pan out (although we might get a clue, depending on whether Psystar continues to offer Mac OS X as an option on PCs). We also don't know which side asked for the process to be shifted to ADR [UPDATE: It now appears that the two companies were pushed into mediation.].
The ADR process could take months to complete, but the court filing does indicate that the process will kick off before Jan 31st 2009.
Filing here (PDF).
Few random thoughts ...
- ADR might not be good for Apple. After all, a public hanging of Psystar would put off any other company with the same idea.
- I really doubt that this will end up with Psystar being licensed to sell Mac clones. If this happens, watch Apple's stock price take a serious beating.
- I wonder how much the upgraded copyright bill has to do with this change of direction?
As of today, Psystar continues to offer the Open Computer for sale.