This article contains references to a current or ongoing event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

In December 2004, Apple Computer 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 the dePlume Organization LLC—the owner of Think Secret—and Nfox.com, the email service provider for PowerPage , for email messages that may identify the confidential source.

On the 4 March, in response to Apple Computer's lawsuit against Think Secret, the dePlume Organization LLC filed a special motion in California Superior Court, Santa Clara County, requesting a dismissal of Apple's suit under the California Anti-SLAPP Statute.[1]

Note: Apple's lawsuit against Think Secret is separate from its "John Doe" suit, whereas it did not sue any journalists, but instead sought information through subpoenas to three Mac news Web sites concerning a product code-named "Asteroid"; Think Secret has done no original reporting on Asteroid. In contrast, Apple's suit against the dePlume Organisation seeks damages from Think Secret.

Backlash

The lawsuit could have negative implications for U.S. journalists with regard to their protections under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Many bloggers have reacted negatively to Apple's decision to follow through on the suit, with The Blog Herald reporting that Apple could be faced with a blogger-initiated boycott of its products [2], while Mike Langberg has written an open letter to Steve Jobs warning that, "The lawsuits pose an imminent threat to Apple's most precious asset: the company's reputation as a hip underdog, a cool alternative to bigger and blander competitors such as Microsoft, Dell and Hewlett-Packard." [3]

External links

• EFF's webpage on Apple v. Does
• ThinkSecret
• AppleInsider
• PowerPage

• "How Apple lost its Groove." The Guardian, 16 March, 2005. Accessed on 17 March, 2005.
• "Memo to Apple: Lay Off Your Fans." BusinessWeek online, 17 March, 2005. Accessed on 17 March, 2005.
• "Lose friends And Disenfranchise People, The Apple Mac Way." Digital Lifestyles, 17 March, 2005. Accessed on 17 March, 2005.
• "Settle? Lawyer thinks different." BostonHerald.com, 25 March, 2005. Accessed on 25 March, 2005.
• "News Publishers and Internet Industry Urge Reversal in Apple Case." Kansas City infoZine, 9 April, 2005. Accessed on 10 April, 2005.