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The what-seems-like-forever 17 month case by Apple against Psystar attempting to sell PCs pre-installed with Mac OS X may have just come to an end.

Apple hired an economist in order to determine how much Psystar should pay in damages, as discussed in a previous post. Psystar was able to sell only 786 Mac OS X PCs without Apple’s authorization. As a result, Psystar will be paying about $1.3 million in damages for copyright infringement, breach of contract and violation of the DMCA. Other damages and legal fees add up to another hefty $1,337,500, totalling about $2.7 million. How Psystar is going to pay these fees is a question we’re still pondering as they filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, and only have about $50,000 in assets…

Details regarding the deal:

Psystar and Apple today entered into a partial settlement that is embodied in a stipulation that will be filed with the court tomorrow. Psystar has agreed on certain amounts to be awarded as statutory damages on Apple’s copyright claims in exchange for Apple’s agreement not to execute on these awards until all appeals in this matter have been concluded. Moreover, Apple has agreed to voluntarily dismiss all its trademark, trade-dress, and state-law claims. This partial settlement eliminates the need for a trial and reduces the issues before this court to the scope of any permanent injunction on Apple’s copyright claims.

However, Psystar hasn’t given up quite yet. They’re still planning to sell the Rebel EFI utility (retail $49.00), which allows users to install any OS on your hardware. With this option, they won’t be preinstalling Mac OS X, but are still providing the option for users to install it themselves.

Psystar wasn’t too smart about this product, either; they advertise and even give detailed instructions on how to use it to install Snow Leopard.

Read [Apple Insider]