Apple Computer,  Blogosphere,  Law,  Media

Apple v. Does Confidential Sources in the Blogopshere Watch: Apple Pays Legal Fees

Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

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National Journal: Apple Pays Legal Fees Of Bloggers

Apple Inc.’s unsuccessful lawsuit against two bloggers it accused of helping expose trade secrets has cost the company $700,000 as a reimbursement for the bloggers’ legal fees.

The bloggers argued that California’s “shield law,” which lets journalists protect anoymous sources, applied to them as they concealed their sources of information about forthcoming Apple products. A state court sided with bloggers last spring, and Apple dropped the case in the summer after a stream of bad press over the suit.

The outcome of the case was one of several instances of official recognition of bloggers as journalists, which I ranked among the Top 10 blog stories of 2006.

Remember the story and the involvement of the California Bear Flag League?

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Hugh Hewitt: Bloggers are Journalists (at least in California).

For your convenience, a long excerpt from the opinion from California’s Sixth Appellate Court in O’Grady v. The Superior Court of Santa Clara County, holding that bloggers and their blogs are covered by California’s Reporter’s Shield Law:

Thanks to Hugh for bringing this to the forefront again.

But, thanks to the efforts of the Bear Flag League on May 26th California Bloggers officially became journalists.

Flap reprints his post of this day: Apple v. Does Confidential Sources in the Blogopshere Watch: Bloggers WIN

The Southern California Law Blog: Bloggers Win, Apple Loses in California Decision Over First Amendment Rights

Today, the California Court of Appeal issued its opinion overturning the trial court’s discovery orders obtained by Apple
against a blogger. The EFF described the lawsuit by Apple as follows:

In December 2004, Apple filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara county against unnamed individuals who allegedly leaked information about new Apple products to several online news sites, including AppleInsider and PowerPage. The articles at issue concerned a FireWire audio interface for GarageBand, codenamed “Asteroid” or “Q7.” In addition, Apple filed a separate trade secret suit against Think Secret on January 4, 2004.

Apple is seeking information from these news sites regarding the identities of the sites’ sources, and has subpoenaed Nfox.com, the email service provider for PowerPage, for email messages that may identify the confidential source.

The Bear Flag League in 2005 filed an amicus brief in support of Jackson O’Grady.

The brief is here.

Congratulations to Justene Adamec and Jeff Lewis, attorneys extraordinaire, who represented the Bear Flag League and the Blogosphere so well.

The decision is here.

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Well, under the law BLOGGERS ARE JOURNALISTS.

However, Flap finds resistance from organizations to grant press credentials and the access that the MSM already and readily enjoys.

Perhaps Flap should reprint this post and send it to them.

Listening California GOP?

According to ipodNN, a California court earlier this month ordered the company to pay the legal fees that the bloggers incurred in their defense. More than half of the $700,000 — a total of $425,000 — went to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented the bloggers. The rest went to co-counsels in the case.

“Bloggers break the news, just like journalists do,” EFF staff attorney Kurt Opsahl said. “They must be able to promise confidentiality in order to maintain the free flow of information. Without legal protection, informants will refuse to talk to reporters, diminishing the power of the open press that is the cornerstone of a free society.”

Indeed.

And Apple Computer – good call on dropping the lawsuit, which you shouldn’t have pursued in the FIRST PLACE.

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Apple v. Does Confidential Sources in the Blogopshere Watch: Bloggers WIN – Redux – Bloggers are Journalists

Apple v. Does: Confidential Sources in the Blogosphere

Judge: Apple can pursue fan site sources

Bloggers Speak up about the Apple Case


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