In an order issued Friday, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup granted Apple's motion for summary judgment and quashed Psystar's similar request. Lawyers for both companies had , each side claiming that enough evidence had accumulated through discovery to warrant a decision before trial, which is slated to start Jan. 11, 2010.

In a detailed analysis of Apple's argument -- which it broached 18 months ago when it first sued Psystar -- Alsup ticked off the copyright provisions that he ruled Psystar had violated.

According to Alsup, Psystar made unauthorized copies of Apple operating system during the computer manufacturing process by imaging a copy of Mac OS X, then installing that on other computers. The clone maker did not install Apple's OS from the copies it bought at retail, and in some cases did not include the Mac OS X DVD installation disc with the machines it sold. "Three of the nine computers did not include a Mac OS X DVD at all," said Alsup, citing a deposition by Apple, which sent personnel to Psystar's facility last summer to observe how it assembled computers.

Previously, Psystar had claimed it purchased a copy of Mac OS X for each machine it sold, buying them from , as well as from Amazon.com and Best Buy.

"Even if it were the case that a DVD was included with every computer, that did nothing to cure the infringement as to the unauthorized copies discussed above," added Alsup.