It's been a long time coming, but the US Supreme Court drove the final nail into Psystar's coffin Monday. Launched in 2008 by two Miami brothers, Psystar sold the first commercial hackintosh systems, dubbed "Open Computers," that could be purchased with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled -- a strict violation of the operating system's end-user license agreement, which forbids it from being installed on third-party machines.
Unsurprisingly, Apple filed suit within months, commencing what became a year-and-a-half long spat that concluded in Psystar's demise. In December 2009, Judge William Alsup of the Northern California District Court issued a broad permanent injunction against Psystar's "Rebel EFI" hack and its hackintosh systems as well as any others "designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure."
Psystar appealed Alsup's ruling a month later in January 2010. It took over a year, but the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with Apple last September, upholding the ban. Unwilling to take "no" for an answer, the would-be hackintosh maker said its fight was "far from over," in a Computerworld interview following the rejected appeal. "There is at least one more round, perhaps two," the company's attorney asserted.
In a last-ditch effort, Psystar petitioned the Supreme Court for relief in December 2011. After refusing to review the case this week, the Supreme Court effectively sealed Psystar's fate. "We are sad," Psystar's legal representation told CNET. Despite rejecting Psystar's filing, the company's lawyer believes the Supreme Court will eventually take a case on the issue (this point wasn't elaborated on). Apple declined to comment.
