By Neil Hughes

Published: 04:20 PM EST

A California attorney representing Psystar in its defense against an Apple lawsuit withdrew himself from the case this week, according to new court documents.

David Welker of the law firm Welker and Rosario represented the Florida-based clone Mac maker in a ministerial capacity, meaning he was not involved in policy making for the defense team. His request to withdraw from the suit was granted.

According to documents filed with Judge William Alsup, Welker never had direct communication with Psystar and never received compensation from the company.

"My request is neither opposed by the lead counsel for Psystar, nor by counsel for Apple and they have received adequate notice," Welker wrote the court. "On September 23, attorney Eugene Action... was added as a counsel of record and he is capable of serving as local counsel in this case."

Reached for comment Friday by AppleInsider, Welker declined to comment, citing attorney-client privilege.

Previously, Welker had made official court filings on Psystar's behalf. In August, one such filing accused Apple executive Phil Schiller of being "unprepared" for deposition. Apple responded by calling the exercise an attempt to "harass" the company's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

He first joined the team in July as substitute counsel when Psystar switched lawyers in its defense. Welker came on board along with the firm Camara & Sibley from Houston, Tex.

In its suit, Apple has alleged that Psystar's knock-off PCs install Mac OS X by circumventing the software's copy protection and violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In August, after the release of Snow Leopard, Apple's latest operating system upgrade, Psystar sued for the right to install the software on its own custom-built machines.

Last week, Apple's effort to make Snow Leopard a on the part of the suit against Psystar was denied by Alsup. The judge, in his ruling, hypothesized that Apple wanted to do so in hopes of having the separate Florida case transferred to a California court.

The California trial in Apple's suit against Psystar is set to start in January 2010.