copyright infringement

Author: Stuart Loh

Defendant Psystar Corporation (“Psystar”) makes and sells a line of computers which support the plaintiff Apple Inc.’s (“Apple”) operating system, MacOS. Apple sued Psystar asserting copyright and other claims related to Psystar’s use of MacOS. In these proceedings, Psystar filed for leave to amend its counterclaims against Apple, dropping its previous counterclaims and asserting new ones under the copyright misuse doctrine and California unfair competition laws. Apple unsuccessfully challenged the copyright misuse counterclaims, arguing that copyright misuse could only be employed as a defense and not a counterclaim, and that in any event Psystar had failed to allege sufficient facts to ground such a claim. The court found that, at this stage in the proceedings, the cases cited did not definitively support Apple’s arguments. However, the court denied Psystar’s unfair competition counterclaims because Psystar did not adequately plead any actual or incipient violation of antitrust laws, as required to make out a claim of unfair competition. Read more » about Some Requirements for Pleading Copyright Misuse Counterclaims