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Mac clone maker Psystar Corp. last week sued Apple for a second time, charging that it illegally ties the new Snow Leopard operating system to Apple's hardware.

Psystar also asked a federal judge in Florida to rule that the small company has the right to purchase copies of Snow Leopard on the open market and use them to install Mac OS X 10.6 on the machines it sells.

Last year, Apple Inc. sued Psystar Corp. and asked a federal court to require the company, to recall all the systems it's sold.

"By tying its operating system to Apple-branded hardware, Apple restrains trade in personal computers that run Mac OS X, collects monopoly rents on its Macintoshes, and monopolizes the market for 'premium computers,'" said Psystar's lawsuit, filed last Wednesday. "Apple's share of revenue in the market for premium computers -- computers priced at over $1,000 -- is currently 91 per cent."

Nearly 80 per cent of businesses have Macs in-house, nearly double the percentage that said they had users running Mac OS X two years ago, according to report released last year by the Yankee Group Research Inc.

Eight reasons why you should switch from a PC to a Mac

Last month, retail market research company NPD Group estimated that Apple controls 91 per cent of the $1,000-and-up market, a fact that got significant play in the media and on blogs.

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