Judge rebukes Apple in Psystar case

The Apple vs. Psystar case has taken an interesting turn as a federal judge rebukes Apple in an order that dismissed a motion the company had made in its ongoing legal battle with Miami-based Mac clone maker Psystar.

In a federal motion, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup denied Apple's motion to block a lawsuit filed by Psystar in August which claimed that Apple tied its new Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" to Mac hardware.

In the motion Alsup claims that Apple timed Snow Leopard's release to happen place after discovery deadline had passed.

Apple's claim:

"Psystar deliberately concealed its intention to run Snow Leopard on its computers despite being relevant to Apple's claims and responsive to Apple's many discovery requests. Then, rather than litigate the legality of its conduct in this Court, where the issues already are pending, Psystar has attempted an end-run around this Court's prior rulings by filing a duplicative and baseless lawsuit 3,000 miles away."

Alsup's view:

"Apple, not Psystar, commenced this action. Apple has fought hard to keep its unreleased product, Snow Leopard, out of this action by, among other things, relentlessly objecting to discovery on Snow Leopard. If Snow Leopard was within the scope of its own complaint herein, as it now suggests, then Apple should have welcomed discovery thereon rather than, as it did, object to discovery directed at Snow Leopard and effectively taking Snow Leopard out of the case."

Alsup also criticize Apple's Snow Leopard release date:

"Only after the discovery period closed did Apple release Snow Leopard, having successfully kept it out of the case. Apple even chose when to release Snow Leopard and it chose to do so after all opportunity to take discovery on it had ended. The problem is one largely of Apple's own making."

Apple's lawsuit against Psystar goes in front of a jury in January 2010.