Apple on Tuesday asked a California district judge to permanently prevent Psystar from infringing on its copyrights.
"Unless Psystar is permanently enjoined, it will not stop its unlawful conduct – conduct that is causing irreparable harm to Apple's business, brand, and goodwill," Apple said in a filing.
Apple and Psystar have been locked in a legal battle since July 2008, when Apple sued Psystar for eight claims of copyright infringement, breach of contract, trademark and trade infringement, and unfair competition. Psystar was selling a computer that uses an unauthorized, modified version of Apple's OS X, Apple said.
Psystar filed a countersuit the following month, which argued that Apple's legal and technical maneuvers were preventing a market for third-party Mac clones.
Earlier this month, Apple won a motion for summary judgment against Psystar. Judge William Alsup ruled that Psystar had violated Apple's rights to reproduce OS X, distribute it, and to create derivative works.
Apple now wants Psystar banned from: directly or indirectly infringing on its copyrights for Mac OS X; and circumventing any of Apple's technological protection measures in Mac OS X, including those that can generate Apple's decryption key.
Psystar's infringement is "undisputed and overwhelming," Apple said.
Apple has requested damages, but said that "money damages alone could never compensate for the irreparable injury that Apple has suffered."
"A failure to enjoin Psystar from continuing its unlawful activities would constitute an involuntary license of Apple's immensely valuable intellectual property and encourage others to follow Psystar's pattern of deliberate disregard of well-established law," Apple said. "Accordingly, this Court should grant a permanent injunction of a scope that will unequivocally end Psystar's unlawful conduct."
In order to be eligible for an injunction under the Copyright Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a company must demonstrate irreparable harm, that money damages are inadequate, and that the public would not be harmed by the injunction – all things, Apple said, that it can prove.
Psystar has been rather quiet since August, when it posted a blog post discussing plans for depositions with high-ranking Apple officials.
The two sides are scheduled to meet again in court on December 14.
