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It’s Been a Hell of A Week For Apple

What’s the Deal?
Apple has had a hell of a week, alright. There was the ruling in the copyright case, the overturning of the decision of the app for the Bobble Heads. So lets re-cap, shall we?

The Copyright Infringement Case
Apple originally sued PsyStar, a supposedly Miami Based Company, for Trademark Infringement, Trademark Dilution, Copyright Infringement, among a host of other things. The history of the case is as follows, as reported by News.Cnet.com: The suit was filed in 2008 after PsyStar started selling clones of MAC’s computr with OX XLeopard pre-installed on what PsyStar called an “Open Computer.” Apparently PsyStar sold the computers under the guise that it could run MAC software, even though it was not an official MAC. This might have been ok, except that the end user license agreement of the software specifically states the it is only allowed for operation on official MAC branded machines.

A ruling was handed down Friday by District Court Judge William Alsup in part stating:

“In sum, Psystar has violated Apple’s exclusive reproduction right, distribution right, and right to create derivative works,”

The rest of the ruling by Alsup, according to the story originally on CNet, also contained some explanation as to the ruling that smacks down PsyStar. The company screamed “fair use” and “first sale” and also filed a counter suit claiming that Apple was misusing their copyright and the license agreement was too restrictive. Judge Alsup screamed that the company:…”does not even attempt to address the four factors used to determine fair use.”

Judge Alsup also rejected the “first sale” claim because fair use only pertains to legal copies of the software, not the bootlegged software PsyStar was using. As for the counter suit? Rejected as well. For the same reasons. And, according to Engadget, PsyStar took the code and modified it to their liking, therefore making Apple’s case for infringement.

The two companies will still go to court on the other issues, trademark infringement and dilution. as there is a hearing scheduled on December 14th 209 and a trial date is set for sometime in January.

The Bobble Head Debate
It started with the Bobble head of nancy pilasco being denied and ended with the bobble heads of the US Congressmen being denied as well. But within a week of the last denial, the app is now up and running. Cartoonist Tom Richmond was commissioned to develop an app that would allow users to be able to use GPS to locate their elected congressmen and women. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Apple in turn denied the app stating:

.because it contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.14 from the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement which states: “Applications may be rejected if they contain content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, sounds, etc.) that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.”

The full rejection letter can be read on Tom Richmond’s Blog. tom himself, in that same blog post Tomstates:

The really sad part is that here is an app that might get people interested in who represents them in Washington, especially kids and young adults, and connects people to their senators and representatives via fun and PARTISAN FREE way. Yet Apple has decided it’s not appropriate. There needs to be more of that in this world of right versus left, especially as that applies to young kids who are being raised to consider politics the public equivalent of professional wrestling. Ray’s documentary “I Want Your Money” is distinctly right wing (and my own political views are mostly left of center) but the app is totally partisan neutral

Wow, not only did Tom slam Apple, but much of the world did too. There have been news stories all over the place about this and then finally, Apple relents. The app has been approved. And it is available on iTunes for only $0.99. Have fun and make use of it cause it took a lot of ranting and raving to get it there…

More Tablet Rumors…
And for a finally, there are more rumors on the long awaited and much fabled Tablet by Apple. According to the Us Trademark & Patent Office, Apple’s full patent is available , and was filed on the basis of : “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING AND ORGANIZING INK INFORMATION IN PEN-AWARE COMPUTER SYSTEMS.” This is sparking more rumors of an Apple Tablet, which is highly expected to be officially announced within the beginning of the coming year. But, according to Network World, they better hurry up. Microsoft apparently has one in the works and “…is leaking and hinting at details of an innovative small tablet device, Courier, now in development.”

And the Verdict Is?
Well, first of all, Apple has got the upper hand in the case with PsyStar. And, even though I often am against what Apple stands for, they deserve this one. Apple has every right to make their end user license agreement any way they want. that is why it is called “proprietary code” in the first place. PsyStar can’t change that so the judge was right in this case to side with Apple.

As for the Bobble head thing, Apple is having a real tough time with apps lately, denying them left and right, almost like they have a new found morality or something. Yeah, ok. And the most likely reason they overturned the rejection of the Bobble Head app in the first place is because of all the bad press they have been getting lately. I mean, come on… It’s not like the apps were violent or pornographic or anything! Apple deserved to get slammed, and Go Tom Richmond and his fan following to get it back up and running. I’m with you buddy!

And the Tablet? I give up on it and Apple on this one. It’s been rumored for many years now and has never surfaced. IMHO they are just playing a game with consumers kind of like Microsoft does. They are getting everyone’s hopes up because of a possible new release, which in turn gets them more revenue and market share. Then- A BIG NOTHING… EVER… I am actually hoping Microsoft will get them on this score, coming out with their version first. And we all know how much I don’t like Microsoft and their antics. But I have to give credit where credit is due, anyway… It would serve Apple right for playing with their customer’s heads…

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