Psystar, Apple both look to avoid 2010 trial

This week Apple and clone Mac maker Psystar both asked for a summary judgment in their ongoing lawsuit before the trial can officially start in January 2010.

On Thursday, both Apple and Psystar filed separate motions, with their respective supporting evidence, requesting a summary judgment from Judge William Alsup in a San Francisco court. Two hearings have been set for Nov. 12, and the outcome could determine whether the trial will take place in January.

Apple has requested that Alsup rule that Psystar infringed on its copyrights and violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in its sale of unofficial third-party machines running Mac OS X. Apple has asserted that Psystar's circumvention of its disc protection methods for its operating system is in violation of the law.

Meanwhile, Psystar has asked the judge to consider a list of evidence submitted in its own request for a summary judgment. The evidence includes the end user license agreements for both Mac OS X 10.5 and Mac OS X 10.6, as well as excerpts from depositions from numerous Apple executives, including Senior Vice President of Worldwide Produt Marketing Phil Schiller.

It was Schiller that Psystar previously alleged was unprepared for his testimony. Apple responded that the proceedings were just an "effort to harass" one of the company's senior executives.

Last week, a member of the Psystar defense team withdrew himself from the case. And in July, the Florida-based corporation brought on a new legal team after it emerged from bankruptcy.

The company — which sells machines with Snow Leopard, Apple's latest operating system, preinstalled — made a bold move earlier this week, when it announced it will license its virtualization technology to third-party hardware vendors. The Psystar OEM Licensing Program intends to allow Intel machines made by companies other than Apple to run Mac OS X 10.6.