Is the fat lady singing? Psystar calls it quits - or does it?
(updated at 5:15 pm PST)
It seemed to be the end of the road for Florida-based Mac clone maker Psystar earlier today, with all signs pointing to a complete shutdown after it found itself on the losing end of a court battle with Apple.
Early in the day, Psystar attorney Eugene Action told Dow Jones Newswires that the company's eight employees will be let go and that Psystar President Rudy Pedraza will be "shutting things down immediately... They will not be in business."
Then, late Friday, Computerworld posted an entry that said Psystar was not closing down and that the attorney had been misquoted, according to another lawyer, K.A.D. Camara of Houston, Texas law firm Camara & Sibley LLP.
Computerworld reports that Camara represents Psystar in a lawsuit filed in a Miami federal court last summer, accusing Apple of violating several antitrust laws. Camara tells Computerworld: "Regrettably, Mr. Action was misquoted in an early story that seems to have been picked up elsewhere. Psystar does not intend to shut down permanently."
Earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup gave the company until midnight on December 31 to comply with a permanent injunction prohibiting it from selling computers with Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard installed. The judge said the “defendant must immediately begin this process, and take the quickest path to compliance.”
Also see: End of the line for Psystar
The company had requested that it be allowed to continue to sell Rebel EFI, a $50 utility that allows customers to install Mac OS X onto their own computers. But the judge pretty much squashed that, too, writing in his decision:
...this order declines to ‘bless’ a product about which it knows little of substance … and Psystar - if it continues to do so - sells Rebel EFI at its peril... What is certain, however, is that until such a motion is brought, Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself held in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction.
That sounded like a "No" to me but Camara tells Computerworld that the site will be back up with Rebel EFI as its sole product. At the update time for this post, the site is again live with Rebel EFI available for purchase.
