Psystar Drops Mac Clones, Sells T-Shirts Instead

Renegade Mac system builder Psystar has gone from selling clones to clothes.

The company, which lost a copyright battle with tech giant Apple, is now using its Web site to hawk T-shirts in an effort to win support for what it says is its right to continue selling Mac clones.

The shirts on the front bear the words, "I sued Psystar," with the punchline, "and all I got was a lousy injunction" written on the back.

"Support Psystar & Open Computing by purchasing a T-shirt," Psystar's Web site says. The $14.99 shirts are available in black only, in sizes ranging from small to extra large.

Psystar took its systems off the market last month on the heels of what it said was a partial settlement of its legal battle with Apple.

Psystar said it agreed to pay Apple $2.7 million in damages, in exchange for a pledge from Apple not to attempt to collect the sum until all appeals in the case have been exhausted. Psystar also said Apple agreed to drop all claims with respect to trade dress, trademark, and state law issues.

A judge in November ruled in favor of Apple in the computer maker's copyright infringement lawsuit against Psystar.

In granting summary judgment for Apple, Judge William Alsup, of U.S. District Court for San Francisco, said Psystar violated Apple's copyright over the Mac OS by modifying it so it could run on third-party hardware and by distributing it to customers.

The ruling was significant in that, had Psystar prevailed, other PC makers—including giants like Dell and Hewlett-Packard—would presumably have been free to offer their own Mac clones.

That fact led some observers, and even Apple itself, to speculate that tiny Psystar's activities and legal costs have been secretly funded by an outside party.

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