Psystar Winding Down Business as Web Site Goes Dark

Dow Jones Newswires reports that unauthorized Mac clone maker Psystar has begun the process of winding down its business ahead of a December 31st deadline set by a federal court judge in granting Apple a permanent injunction preventing Psystar from selling hardware with Mac OS X preinstalled or enabling others to infringe on Apple's copyrights.

The Doral, Fla.-based computer maker, which made machines that run Apple's popular Macintosh operating system, intends to fire its eight employees, company attorney Eugene Action told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday.

Psystar President Rudy Pedraza will then be "shutting things down immediately, " Action said. "They will not be in business."

To that end, Psystar's web site, which serves as its primary sales channel, became inaccessible yesterday and it appears doubtful that it will be revived.

In the permanent injunction granted earlier this week, federal court judge William Alsup declined to grant Psystar's request to exclude from the injunction its Rebel EFI software, which enables consumers and other third parties to install Mac OS X on non-Apple computers. Alsup noted, however, that Psystar could bring a separate case to address the legality of Rebel EFI, which was not subject to full disclosure in the trial, although the company could be held in contempt if it continued selling the software before its legality had been addressed.

Given Psystar's bold history of business and legal moves, it did not appear out of the question that its management might decide to press the issue of Rebel EFI's legality, but it does now seem that Psystar has finally conceded and will be shutting down its operations in the very near future.