"From a legal perspective, it's all just posturing," said Jonathan Blinderman, head of the new media department at Los Angeles-based law firm . "The perception is important, even though things can turn around so quickly."

What some saw as a Psystar legal victory earlier this month when a judge said that Psystar could refile its case charging copyright misuse, is in reality just part of the legal process.

"You've got one district court that has said they could file a counterclaim--he [the judge] hasn't ruled they are valid at all," said Peter Strand, a lawyer and chairman of the intellectual property subcommittee for , an international organization of attorneys defending business and individuals in civil litigation.

For that reason, many of the legal experts Macworld spoke to for this article don't rate Psystar's chances for a legal victory very highly.

"Copyright misuse is rarely applied and there isn't much case law for it," SUNY-Buffalo's Bartholomew said. "It's very unlikely Psystar is going to win."