The OSx86 Project suffered a setback last week when the group was accused of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violation by Apple, and was told by Apple’s lawyers to shut down its discussion forums. Now the site is back in business after making some slight modifications to its forums.
Although Apple’s license forbids users to install Mac OS X on machines not made by Apple, the company’s transition to Intel-based hardware has interested some computer users in the possibility of running Mac OS X on other manufacturer’s PCs. The OSx86 Project exists as place for the “communication of information related to Mac OS X for Intel based machines.” The OSx86 Project’s coordinators resolutely believe that their site is compliant with the DMCA.
As it turns out, Apple’s concern came from links in the discussion forums to a Web site used by a user whose pseudonym was “Maxxuss.” Apple’s lawyers believed that the information found on that site violated its intellectual property rights.
“We have in the past linked to the homepage of Maxxuss — but not to the offending 10.4.4 patches — in the interest of news, but we’ve removed those links just in case,” said The OSx86 Forum.
The group noted the increased public interest in their activities with this recent altercation, and said, “So that’s the story. Apple doesn’t ‘have it in’ for our site; they were simply concerned with a few links posted by our members. Those links have been removed and we’re back.”