Judge tosses Psystar's 'monopolistic power' claim against Apple
A federal judge yesterday dismissed Psystar's claims that Apple is violating the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts. But the Mac clone maker is not yet entirely "down for the count" in court.
Is Apple engaging in monopolistic practices to keep other companies from selling machines running Mac OS X? A federal judge this week approved Apple's motion to throw out a lawsuit making this claim, levied by Mac clone maker Psytar.
As previously reported in BetaNews, Psystar filed its own lawsuit in August after getting hauled into court by Apple on accusations of trade infringement and breach of contract around selling computers that run a version of OS X.
More specifically, Psystar contended that Apple has broken the Sherman Antitrust Act by tying OS X to Apple-labeled hardware and the Clayton Antitrust Act by carrying out monopolistic practices and exclusive dealings.
In early October, though, Apple's lawyers sought a dismissal of Psystar's suit, filing a 23-page motion charging Psystar with making an "an attempt to direct attention from infringing conduct."
On Tuesday of this week, Judge William Alsup upheld Apple's motion to dismiss Psytar's suit.
Psystar, however, does have the opportunity to amend its lawsuit against Apple and to ask the court for reconsideration within 20 days.
At the end of October, Psystar announced that it had beat Apple out the door with a Mac desktop PC featuring an optional Blu-ray drive.