Psystar isn’t playing either. They are bringing out the big guns – lawyers that have fought against Apple before and won. InformationWeek reports that they have hired law firm Carr & Ferrell, who has also negotiated a $60 million settlement from Microsoft in the past. Clearly Psystar has good representation.

They may just have a case.  Apple’s license strictly forbids anyone from installing its operating system on any hardware that isn’t manufactured by Apple itself. You can bet that other big computer makers are keeping a close eye on this one as well. Imagine a world where you can buy a Dell pre-installed with the latest Mac OS. Check out Psystar’s philosophy:

According to AppleInsider, Apple legally has to respond to Psystar’s claims within 30 days. The company has not made a statement at this point.

This is just the latest of Apple’s legal news, though it is probably the most important as its outcome could impact an entire industry. The company is also dealing with a class action suit regarding the iPhone 3G, and had a brush with the Tetris Company courtesy of a knock-off of their trademark game being offered on iTunes.

Apple has also had some more negative publicity lately with their iPhone ad being banned in the UK and their own banning of a comic on iTunes. It seems like just last week that Apple was basking in the glory of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Oh wait, it was last week. No one seems satisfied with the company’s practices this week.

A little-known company called Psystar attracted attention with its $399 OpenMac offer. Through the use of emulation, the company claimed it could get Mac OS X Leopard to run on a conventional set of PC hardware, at a vastly lower price than Apple offers.

The blogger behind Netkas claimed ownership of the PC EFI v8 emulator, which was designed to do what Psystar offers: provide an emulation layer between Leopard and the underlying hardware. “Redistribution and use in binary form for direct or indirect commercial purposes, with or without modification, is strictly forbidden,” the license reads.

When gadget-loving Gizmodo got on the track of Psystar’s physical location in Florida, their efforts turned up nothing but a residence at one address listed for them, and an entirely different company at another Psystar address.

“Not only does the Miami Chamber of Commerce and BBB not know anything about any company named Psystar, the actual physical address they listed on their website actually changed halfway through the day yesterday,” said Gizmodo’s Jason Chen. Gizmodo is calling Psystar a hoax.

If so, they got a lot of people with the gag, including no less an Apple luminary than Steve Wozniak. He told ArsTechnica, “I like the price, so I may get one.”

We advise him to hold off on giving Psystar a credit card number anytime soon. Even if Psystar suddenly starts churning out these machines, all it will take is one update from Apple to turn them useless bricks, as they did to people who modified their iPhones.