Judge Sides with Apple in Lawsuit over Product Leaks

A California court ruled Friday that an online journalists ISP must reveal the identities of the reporters confidential sources to attorneys from Apple Computer Inc., rejecting a request for an order to protect the confidentiality of the sources and other unpublished information.

"…The United States and California Supreme Courts have underscored that trade secret laws apply to everyone regardless of their status, title or chosen profession," reads the ruling by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg.

"The California Legislature has not carved out any exception to these statutes for journalists, bloggers or anyone else."

For those reasons, Kleinberg wrote, the court found that the posting of information about an upcoming product from Apple code-named "Asteroid" passed the thresholds necessary for discovery to proceed.

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Apple filed a lawsuit Dec. 13, alleging that an unknown person released confidential information pertaining to Asteroid.

Apple is suing several unnamed individuals, called "Does," who allegedly leaked information about the product.

Apple subpoenaed Nfox, the ISP for PowerPage.com publisher Jason OGrady, as well as unpublished materials OGrady obtained while gathering information for an article about Asteroid.

Fridays ruling grants Apple permission to issue subpoenas directly to PowerPage and to another site, AppleInsider, for similar information. The subpoenas have not yet been issued.

"Its a bad ruling," said Cindy Cohn, legal director for the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), which is representing OGrady, AppleInsider and PowerPage.

"Its a bad ruling in a way thats bad for all journalists, not just our guys."

Whats particularly ominous for journalists of all stripes, be they print or online, freelance or associated with a media outlet, is how the court has overlooked the importance of protecting journalists sources in such a relatively trivial matter as an Apple product launch, Cohn said.

Click here to read more about Mac news site Think Secret requesting that an Apple lawsuit against it be dismissed.

"I think that the court is taking a dim view: The mere assertion that theres a trade secret on [Apples] side kills the journalists" right to protect confidential sources, she said.

Compare that with the courts upholding of journalists rights to keep sources confidential, for example, in a case such as the Pentagon Papers trial, Cohn said—a situation in which the government claimed that national security was at stake.

"Despite the fact that there was a claim that there was national security [at stake] and [the information] was classified, the court still upheld the journalists rights," she said. "Apples concerns are certainly less than the nations in wartime."

Next Page: A landmark case.