Apple clone maker Psystar’s got some new lawyers who believe the federal case against the Florida company is difficult, but not “crazy.”
Kiwi Camara and Tim Nyberg of Houston legal studio Camara & Sibley agreed to defend Psytar in June. They’re taking a winner-takes-all approach, charging the Mac cloner a flat fee — only if they prevail over Apple in court.
“We take hard cases, but not baseless ones,” Camara told the Houston Chronicle.
Psystar started selling Intel-based computers with Mac OS X pre-installed last April. In July 2008, Apple filed a lawsuit accusing the company of copyright and software licensing violations.
A month later, Psystar filed a countersuit, which was tossed out in November 2008.
Psystar, however, refused to back down. In February it won a round after a judge ruled that it could amend its countersuit to charge Apple with abusing copyright laws by tying Mac OS X to its own hardware.
The Florida-based company filed for bankruptcy in May, leading some to speculate that it was game over.
They hired the lawyers a month later. The pair work in a five-person legal studio at the top of an unmarked staircase, decorated with an electric guitar on the wall, that the reporter from the Houston Chronicle said looked more like an like apartment.
A bit quirky, perhaps, but the pair have chops. Camara entered Harvard Law School at age 17 and graduated two years later. Nyberg was an engineer for Netscape before going to law school.
“Apple has engaged in legal engineering,” Nyberg said. “It’s not a crazy case.”
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
