The original suit originated in 2004 when AppleInsider, ThinkSecret and PowerPage posted information about upcoming Apple products - one of which was the new Mac Mini, the other a music oriented product code-named "Asteroid." Apple determined the insider information was leaked by one or more of their employees. Instead of going on a company-wide witchhunt which would have caused major internal turmoil, Apple decided to subpoena the email records of their respective Internet Service Providers (ISPs). It even went so far as to file a separate trade-secret lawsuit against ThinkSecret.com, a online news site dedicated to revealing information about upcoming Apple products; the case is still awaiting trial or settlement even after an online petition was signed by over 5000 people asking Apple to drop the litigation.

Apple has targeted "illegitimate" news sites, AppleInsider, PowerPage and ThinkSecret

Apple's shrewd move to save the integrity of the workplace then backfired. Badly. Apple's argument to obtain the email records was that the aforementioned sites, "were not legitimate news sources", they were bloggers, not journalists, who were just "reprinting verbatim copies of Apple's internal information with no editorial oversight at all." The San Jose Court of Appeals completely rejected the argument and ruled: "online reporters are protected by the same confidentiality laws that guard traditional journalists."

Worse yet for Apple is that the court also stated that their subpoena to obtain the email communications between the news sites and Apple was "unenforceable." However, thanks to Apple's suit, the definition of "journalist" has been changed in the eyes of the law. Online news sites, blogs, and other Internet news sources now have the same legal status as traditional media sources like the Wall Street Journal, WINS and CNN.

ThinkSecret's Nick Ciarelli aka Nick dePlume, a Harvard undergraduate, is also being sued for trade secret misappropriation

The Legitimate VS. Illegitimate news really irked many in the online community who strive to deliver accurate and time sensitive stories. With the Drudge Report breaking the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and Jayson Blair's bogus New York Times stories, you wouldn't think an intelligent and future-sensitive company like Apple would make this fragile argument. Even with Apple's reputation for confidentiality, you also wouldn't think that Apple would punish their news sites. Granted these entities traffic in Apple secrets and pontificate about their future plans and products, most companies would give almost anything for the fervent and devoted consumers that Apple is able to create.

The San Jose court's ruling overturns a lower court's decision last year that entitled Apple to sift through the email data to possibly learn the identities of those who leaked the "insider" information as a way to protect the company's trade secrets. The ruling also concludes that online news sources are guarded by California's shield law protecting the confidentiality of journalists' sources. In addition, the ruling may have set a precedent for private email being protected from subpoenas.

The New York Times, some journalists definition of traditional media says it best: "We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish 'legitimate' from 'illegitimate' news. Any attempt by courts to draw such a distinction would imperil the fundamental purpose of the First Amendment" -- namely Freedom of the Press.

The Future: "Apple continues to request that the hearing on Think Secret's First Amendment Motion to dismiss (the Anti-Slapp Motion) be adjourned, and ThinkSecret concurs, since the case is stayed while the motion is pending. Apple's request clearly indicates that Apple realizes that its case is weak. In fact, the recent Court of Appeal decision demonstrates that Apple will not be able to prevail against Think Secret, and that the First Amendment protects Think Secret's reporting," states Terry Gross, counsel for Think Secret.
Of course, it was Job's intention all along to legitimize all online news sources, protect private email communications from being subpoenaed and to include web journalists in California's shield law. And you thought Keyser Sosé had it going on...

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