Antitrust case against Apple still on, says Mac clone maker

Contrary to media and blogger reports, Apple Inc. and Mac clone maker Psystar Corp. have not suspended their legal wrestling, a lawyer for Psystar said Tuesday.

The fact that the two parties have filed documents with a federal court promising that they would take their dispute to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), a legal process that can include mediation, is "a non-story," said Colby Springer, an attorney with Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm Carr & Ferrell LLP who is on the team representing Psystar.

According to court documents filed this month, lawyers for both Psystar and Apple have agreed to non-binding mediation.

The court demanded that both parties agree to enter ARD, Springer confirmed. But he denied that anything should be read into the paperwork. "The Northern District [of California] requires you to go through ADR," he said. "It's standard practice, not for all courts, but the practice is growing. Quite frankly, all the talk about entering negotiations is really a non-story."

ADR does not require that opponents come to an agreement, although the case's judge can order the parties to continue discussions until he or she believes that route will be fruitless. "The case is very much alive," Springer said.

Apple and Psystar agreed to private mediation, with a mediator to be chosen from Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services Inc. (JAMS), a private company that provides trained mediators, arbitrators and negotiators. By ADR rules, any details of an agreement between Apple and Psystar would be kept secret.

Springer hinted that it was unlikely mediation would resolve the dispute. "This will go on a dual track now, the ADR and the case," he said, "but the real story from our point of view is our objection to the Apple move to dismiss."

Last Friday, Psystar filed a brief opposing Apple's earlier move to dismiss Psystar's anti-trust lawsuit. Calling Apple's logic "simply wrong," Psystar said it had made a case that Apple's practice of tying its Mac OS X to the company's own hardware is a violation of several anti-trust laws.

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