Psystar and Apple continue to battle it out, and things are coming to a head next month. They are fighting on two major fronts, and both will be the subject of oral argument on November 12. It looks like we will see an end, one way or another, of much of the first Apple-Psystar litigation. Psystar, I gather, would like this to be the end of this litigation, period, and then it will be on to Florida, I assume, for the second, the one over Snow Leopard, which Psystar has already been infringing, from Apple's point of view. Psystar has said it will accept an injunction of just Leopard, since it claims it isn't selling it any more anyway, and a nominal fine. All the rest of Apple's claims, it argues, are then moot.
But Apple would like this to go to trial on some trademark issues and other matters, which it sees as not mooted at all. It says it intends to seek disgorgement of Psystar's ill-gotten gains, by the way. And because Psystar can't possibly pay damages, it argues for a permanent injunction, but despite the recent
ruling regarding Snow Leopard not being included in this litigation, Apple asks the court to fashion the injunction to include all its copyrighted Mac OS X software, not just Leopard, so Psystar can't continue to hop about infringing merrily along with each new version of Mac OS X.
As you recall, each side has filed
summary judgment motions, with Apple opposing Psystar's motion but Psystar merely responding to Apple's. It knows it can't possibly win, I think, so it's just trying to minimize damages.
It's particularly in these arguments regarding summary judgment that we get the clearest picture yet of what this lawsuit has been all about.
But in addition, there is a really nasty dog fight on the side over confidentiality, with Psystar attempting to get the court to unseal technical information about how to bypass Apple's encryption, information Apple views as a trade secret and which it would like to keep sealed. I view this argument less as core to the litigation, but more as lawyer-jockeying for advantage on Psytar's part. I'll show you what I mean.
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