The latest in the saga between Apple vs. Psystar, is an alleged move by both companies to settle the entire lawsuit outside of court. Whether the decision was made by a judge, initiated by Apple, or initiated by Psystar is unconfirmed.
"Sometimes a judge will strongly urge the parties to enter into voluntary ADR, " the Mac Observer explains. “An attorney, who is following the case and wishes to remain anonymous, told TMO on Thursday that he discovered that the ADR process has been initiated and both parties have agreed to it. ‘ADR is a private process whereby both parties can meet and work out a resolution in lieu of going to trial,’ he said. ‘Exactly why this has happened is not known at this point.’”
Another possibility for both companies to reach a settlement would be a process known as Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE), in which an expert evaluates each company’s “side of the story” and responds to each party with a report of his own, at which time a settlement may be reached. Another option for Apple and Psystar would be mediation, where a third party (mediator) helps both companies negotiate until a settlement is met.
Under ADR, the parties:
(1) Meet in non-binding arbitration (essentially the arbitrator judges the parties’ case by hearing their argument on the law and facts but has no authority to impose a settlement or adjudicate the matter);
(2) Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE) is where an expert has the parties submit their statement of the facts and the law and provides each of them with his evaluation of the merits of their case (this evaluation of the each party’s case by a neutral expert facilitates settlement);
(3) Mediation is where the mediator get between the parties and simply tries to help the parties reach a negotiated settlement,” he wrote.
Different legal situations call for different measures, and ways of working through them. ADR is not a very popular choice by plaintiffs or defendants, but it can be chosen for a variety of reasons. Secrecy, lower court costs and so on. Additionally, if Apple or Psystar thought the case would bankrupt them if decided by a trial/judge, then they can “fold” early and settle with an ADR, and it still may allow them to remain open for business.
Read - Click here to get caught up on the ongoing legal issues between Apple and Psystar.
[via Macnn]
