Mac Clone Maker Psystar Files for Ch. 11 Bankruptcy

Mac clone maker Psystar has filed for bankruptcy, perhaps bringing to an end the legal issues with Apple over it selling an unauthorized Mac clone, or, more likely, just stalling the process.

The bankruptcy documents were filed with the Federal Courts in Florida on Thursday. The declaration (.PDF) and the Ch. 11 filing (.PDF) assert that the company is more than $250,000 in debt, owed mostly to shippers, the IRS, and the law firm Carr & Farrell.

In the filing, Psystar pins its financial troubles on the recession. However, the legal battle against Apple cannot be discounted. Psystar began selling desktops running Mac OS X in April of last year. It later added laptops. In July, Apple sued the company for copyright infringement.

The big problem with their product, naturally, is that the OS X EULA clearly says:

"You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so."

The bankruptcy filing will halt Apple's lawsuit for now, until the Ch. 11 morass is ironed out, but after that, the lawsuit will resume its forward march.