The what-seems-like-forever 17 month case by Apple against Psystar attempting to sell PCs pre-installed with Mac OS X may have just come to an end. As a result of selling 786 PCs with Mac OS X pre-installed without Apple’s authorization, Psystar will be paying about $1.3 million in damages for copyright infringement, breach of contract and violation of the DMCA, plus an additional $1,337,500 in other damages and legal fees.

It turns out that all of Apple’s efforts to stop Pystar may not have been worth it. In 2008, The Florida-based computer maker told venture capitalists it would sell anywhere from 70,000 to 130,000 computers in 2009, according to ComputerWorld. Conservative or aggressive, those are some bad projections. To compare Apple’s numbers, Apple sold about 10 million Macs in the 2009 fiscal year, the 12-month span that ended September 30, 2009.

The Apple vs. Psystar lawsuit isn’t going well for the “open computer” maker, as the judge in the California lawsuit has granted all of Apple’s summary decision requests, and denied all of Pystar’s. Think of it as the Lightning Round of the judicial system; it means the judge felt there was enough evidence right now to support Apple’s claim of copyright infringement and a DMCA violation. He also supported their motion to seal.

Surely you remember Psystar, the pesky little company that just wouldn’t stop cloning Mac computers despite what anyone did. There was even some rumors floating around that another company may have been backing Psystar in their attempt to make Macs more open to everyone. Well, it seems as if the legend that was Psystar will soon be coming to an end.

And speaking of ugly, unofficial Mac clones, turns out Psystar isn’t alone. Engadget-chu, I choose you! Selling for $990 (or $1,330 with an LG 19-inch monitor), the base unit ships with 2GB memory, 320GB storage, and a 256MB ATI Radeon HD PRO. If you’ve got deep pockets, $1,710 will get you the OpeniMacPRO, a 3.0GHz more »

The latest (and most interesting) salvo in the Apple vs. Psystar lawsuit was that Apple wants to identify several “John Does” who were behind the hacking which allows Mac OS X to be installed on generic Intel boxes. Since there’s nothing the internet loves more than a conspiracy (well, maybe one thing) there’s been a lot of speculation about who is the shadowy cadre behind the plan to break Apple’s hold on their own operating system.

John Gruber (of Daring Fireball fame) gives a rundown of the thinking behind that, then offers a counter theory: there’s nobody “bigger” behind Psystar at all…

Apple has requested an amendment to its complaint against Psystar, the makers of the Open Mac, a non-Apple manufactured computer than runs Leopard. Apple claims that someone—who at this time is unknown—is behind Psystar.

As Apple and Psystar continue to duke it out over the sales of non-Apple computers running Mac OS X, Psystar recently filled a counterclaim saying that Apple was violating anti-trust laws in its exclusivity regarding which computers can run their operating systems. A California judge has dismissed the counterclaim. Psystar’s counterclaim stated that Apple’s exclusivity more »

A few months ago, I wrote a piece on Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment. The piece had little, if any, good to say about the ads. They were full of misleading ideas, research, and numbers. But they look perfectly angelic in light of Psystar’s recent ad push.

You remember Psystar, right? The company that makes Mac clones that was sued by Apple and is now settling out of court? Well, until they’re shut down, it appears they are going full force. Yesterday, I saw the very first ad for Psystar on YouTube. With the headline “Why buy a used Apple? Experience Mac OS X for less,” I just had to see the case they made for this.

The page the ad took me to was sad to see…

With another new chapter in the Psystar saga, things aren’t all dandy over in Cupertino. The nasty stuff’s about to hit the proverbial fan, so Apple may want to consider their options. But, it looks like Cult of Mac writer Leigh McMullen took care of the thinking, and came up with a seemingly perfect solution.

Read on to hear all about how Apple can stop Psystar with ease.