Psystar bails on bankruptcy, promises to 'battle Goliath'

July 5, 2009, 07:54 PM —  Computerworld — 

Psystar, the Mac clone maker embroiled in a legal dispute with Apple, asked a federal judge last week to dismiss its bankruptcy case, saying that it had been unable to reach a payment agreement with its law firm.

At the same time, Psystar said in a letter to customers that it is "again ready to battle Goliath," a reference to Apple, as it announced a new clone powered by Intel's Xeon quad-core "Nehalem" processor.

In the motion submitted last Thursday, Psystar asked a Miami federal bankruptcy court to dismiss the Chapter 11 case it initiated more than a month ago.

"As of the Petition Date, it was the Debtor's intention to restructure its operations to be able to produce a more profitable product and that way be able to meet its obligations and continue the litigation in the Northern District of California," said Psystar, referring to the copyright and software licensing infringement charges that Apple leveled against it in July 2008 for installing Mac OS X 10.5 on its clones.

Psystar said that it had been unable to reach a payment agreement with its legal firm, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Carr & Ferrell. According to previously-filed documents, Psystar owed the firm more than $88,000, over a third of its total debt.

That, along with the court's ruling on June 19 that the case should continue, even though Psystar had filed for bankruptcy, was a one-two punch the company could not withstand. "In light of Debtor's inability to reach an agreement with its California counsel and the Court's granting Apple's motion for relief from stay, Debtor will not be able to restructure its operation and continue with the California litigation while in Chapter 11," said Psystar.

Psystar ticked off other factors that led to its decision to bail out of bankruptcy proceedings, including the expense of Chapter 11 requirements, and said that it had no interest in filing for Chapter 7, which would put it out of business, as that would demand it liquidate its assets to pay creditors.

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Close

On Twitter now

psystar

Powered by Twitter
You are logged in | Sign out
Sign in and post to Twitter

What are you thinking?

Cancel Tweet sent

On Twitter now

Post a comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
peer-to-peer

Brian Proffitt
Microsoft/Novell: Breaking Down the Coupon Numbers

Esther Schindler
Drupal's Dries Buytaert on Building the Next Drupal

Tom Henderson
Top Ten General Operating Systems Rants

pasmith
PS3 motion controller delayed; goes up against Project Natal

sjvn
Neolithic Windows security hole alive and well in Windows 7

claird
Perl source code comparison makes for good reading

mikelgan
Cell phones don't create stress or interrupt much

Sandra Henry-Stocker
How to: The Unix Interview

 

Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Marketplace