“In terms of an inspirational leader, Steve Jobs is really the best I’ve ever met.” – Bill Gates as quoted in the Bloomberg news obituary for Steve Jobs.

Courtesy of Apple

What, you didn't know that Steve met an untimely demise at the hands of Bloomberg News? Not to worry. Steve wasn't aware of it, either.

Bloomberg News had a major 'uh oh' moment earlier today when it accidentally published a 17-page obituary for Steve Jobs. While the obit never made it into print, it was flashed around the world on the Bloomberg financial newswire service before being quickly retracted.

I can imagine a few hearts stopping, followed by shouts of 'Sell!' as the news appeared in some of the financial papers around the world that subscribe to the Bloomberg newswire service.

A quick look at the stock tickers reassures that there was no apparent blip in Apple values. No harm, no foul. And according to the latest reports, Steve is still among us.

Psystar, the company that made headlines here back in April when it started shipping a Mac clone, is reported to be about to respond to Apple's lawsuit with a countersuit, alleging that Apple is engaging in anti-competitive practices, which violates the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Act.

This course of action by Psystar was expected, but as many legal experts have pointed out, it isn't likely to dramatically affect the outcome of Apple's suit. The problem is that in order to invoke the Antitrust Act, Psystar will have to prove that Apple's actions have not only harmed general consumers of computer products but also Apple's competitors.

Both points will be difficult to prove. I'm not sure how Psystar will be able to argue that a consumer running Windows on a PC was hurt by Apple limiting OS X's license to Apple computers. Even if Psystar could find a way to make that argument, how will they manage to argue that Apple's competitors were hurt?

Well, all's fair in love and lawsuits. We'll just have to sit back and see how this plays out.

Anyone giving odds? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.