Psystar is a company that distributes Mac clones without authorization (obviously) and much to the dismay of Apple, and even perhaps Apple fanboi-dom. They have taken an interesting angle at copyright law, and unfortunately only after their failed antitrust attempt which I thought would have been adequate.
This new angle consists of a subtle use of 17 USC, 117(b), and the spirit of copyright law in total. I really don’t know at this point, why Psystar shouldn’t be allowed to purchase product legitimately, install it on legal hardware, and distribute it under their name. Apple wants to hold onto its hegemony of hardware and software interrelation to lock down competition in the hardware space which I would think is antitrust related as well as copyright abuse.
What brought all of this back up enough for me to make a post about it, is an article by Gregg Keizer at ComputerWorld.com, and it succinctly describes the current situation as well as some historical information.
Since this blog is about the merging of Ethics, Business, and Technology; One can see that customers would be best served by expanding competition to drive down prices. As long as Apple is allowed to keep an iron fist at the throat of competition through the abuse of copyright “protections” it becomes another coffin nail in the argument of free and open trade being key to business and economic growth. Apple should license the software for any platform that can run it, and understand that those who value the brand, quality, and support of the company will remain their most ardent purchaser.