OpenMac says Apple breaks antitrust laws

Vows to continue offering Mac clone

15 April 2008 14:43 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

US company Psystar, recently in tech headlines for offering a non-Apple Mac computer, appears to be prepared to fight the computer giant over legal issues.

Psystar has just begun offering a PC running Apple's operating system Leopard, but on cheap, generic PC hardware and says Apple's restrictive licensing terms run counter to US antitrust laws.

Apple's end-user license agreement forbids third-party installations of Leopard, so this is a direct violation of that agreement, although whether this would stand up in court vs. the monopoly issues is the key question.

Psystar thinks Apple's terms clearly violate American monopoly laws: "What if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?", said Robert, a Psystar employee, in a telephone interview.

He also said that Apple "grossly overcharges" for hardware: "They're charging an 80% markup on hardware", said Robert. Psystar's OpenMac is around a fifth of the cost of an Apple equivalent.

Robert said Psystar will continue to sell the OpenMac system, despite the fact that it appears to violate Apple's EULA: "We're not breaking any laws", he insisted.

Despite this fighting talk, Psystar has since changed the name of the PC in question from OpenMac to "Open Computer" although continues to offer Leopard pre-installed.