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Apple accused of being monopolist, sued over new Snow Leopard software

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Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the consumer electronics manufacturer with unmatched style, was just accused of being a lame monopolist. Why? For ensuring the operating system software it makes only runs on personal computers it manufactures itself. Oh, the horror!

Psystar, the small PC manufacturer whose claim to fame has been building Apple MacIntosh-compatible "clone" PCs that run a legitimate copy of Apple's MacIntosh operating system (but on non-Apple machines), has said that Apple "Snow Leopard" operating system that was just released last week gives Apple a monopoly over the illegality of making sure only its hardware can run its software.

Any customer can buy Apple's Snow Leopard operating system by itself for installation on most recent and current Mac machines. That is, as long as they were made by Apple and only Apple. Psystar's lawsuit states "by tying its operating system to Apple-branded hardware, Apple restrains trade in personal computers that run Mac OS X, collects monopoly rents on its MacIntoshes, and monopolizes the market for 'premium computers."

Although Apple currently has a 91% market share on PCs with prices above $1,000, does that mean it is a monopolist? Is Apple really violating the Sherman and Clayton acts in seeing that only machines it makes can use software it makes? The fate of capitalism could hang in the balance...

...just kidding.

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Last updated: November 26, 2009: 05:32 AM

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