San Francisco (CA) – Apple has accused Psystar of violating a court order by destroying crucial evidence related to the alleged modifcation of OS X.
“Psystar Corporation has destroyed relevant evidence that it was legally required to preserve,” Apple counsel James Gilliland wrote to Judge William Alsup of the US District Court of San Francisco. “Specifically, Psystar has overwritten – i.e. erased – infringing versions of the software code used on computers sold to its customers. This discovery revealed that Psystar has erased prior versions of its software that Apple’s experts independently found on defendant’s computers.”
According to Gilliland, Apple can “prove” that Psystar violated the DMCA by modifying OS X and installing the software on non-Apple computers.
“In November 2008, Apple served discovery seeking the source and executable software code that Psystar uses to cause Mac OS X to run on Apple computers. In March 2009, Apple deposed Psytar’s designee, CEO Rodolfo Pedraza to discover how Psystar circumvented technological protecting measures in Mac OS X and installed in on Psytar computers. This discovery revealed that Psystar has erased prior versions of its software that Apple’s experts independently have found on defendant’s computers,” added Gilliland.
Although Psystar has yet to publicly comment on the above-mentioned allegations, the Mac clone manufacturer continues to maintain that Club Cupertino’s OS X copyright doesn’t “give Apple the right” to dictate terms of service.
“Apple can’t tell an applications developer that it can’t make a piece of Mac-compatible software. They can’t forbid Mac users from writing blogs critical of Apple. And they can’t tell us not to write kernel extensions that turn the computers we buy into Mac-compatible hardware,” Psystar insisted.
As TG Daily previously reported, the defiant company has stepped up its crusade against Apple by hiring an aggressive legal team that is currently taking depositions from a number of “high level” Apple employees.
“We are pleased to announce that an agreement with Apple’s counsel was reached earlier this month and we now have the final list of their deponents for our proposed topics with respect to this litigation,” Psystar explained in an official blog post. “For the past week and for the following ten days we will be doing depositions of some of Apple’s highest level people. After numerous depositions of Psystar employees and associates the shoe is finally on the other foot, oh the joy!”
The extensive deposition list reportedly includes the following individuals:
- Aug. 07: John Wright — OS X — Senior Software Manager
- Aug. 12: Kevin Van Vechten — OS X — Software Engineering Manager
- Aug. 13: Philip Schiller — Marketing — Senior VP Worldwide Product Marketing
- Aug. 14: Mike Culbert — Mac Hardware — Senior Director
- Aug. 18: Gary Thomas — TBD
- Aug. 19: Simon Patience — OS X — Head of Core OS
- Aug. 21: Mark Donnelly — Apple — VP Finance and Worldwide Business management
- Aug. 21: Greg Christie — TBD
- Aug. 21: Mansfield — Mac Hardware — Senior VP Mac Hardware Engineering
