Psystar

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied Psystar's request to review a lower court decision that keeps it from selling computers that run Apple's OS X but that are not made by Apple.

The decision not to hear the case (PDF) upholds a ruling made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last September that Psystar's Mac clones violate Apple's copyrights.

Apple took Psystar to court in 2008 on claims of copyright-infringement after the company made a business out of purchasing copies of OS X and selling them on hardware it put together under the "OpenMac" moniker. Psystar fired back with its own complaint, saying Apple was not following fair use guidelines with its software, and was misusing its copyright.

A U.S. District Court sided with Apple in 2009, saying that Psystar "violated Apple's exclusive reproduction right, distribution right, and right to create derivative works," a decision that led to a permanent injunction against the clone maker in December 2009.

Following a rejection of Psystar's appeal to that decision in September, the company's lawyers vowed to take it up to the Supreme Court. "This is far from over," K.A.D. Camara of Houston law firm Camara & Sibley, LLP told Computerworld in an interview. The company kept to its word, and filed for a review from the Supreme Court on December 27, 2011.

"We are sad," Camara told CNET by e-mail this evening. "I'm sure that the Supreme Court will take a case on this important issue eventually."

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

Updated at 12:07 p.m. PT on 5/15 with Apple's response.