Apple v. Does
Encyclopedia
Apple v. Does is a lawsuit
filed by Apple Computer
in December 2004 against unnamed individuals
. The suit, filed in Santa Clara County, California
, alleges that the defendants 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.
Apple is seeking information from these news sites regarding the identities of the sites' sources. It has subpoena
ed the owner of Think Secret
, dePlume Organization LLC, as well as Nfox.com, the email service provider for PowerPage, for e-mail messages that may identify the confidential source. All parties concerned have publicly told Apple their intentions to the contrary.
Apple filed a trade secret
suit over a separate issue against Think Secrets owner on January 4, 2004. This suit does not concern Asteroid, but instead accuses the site's owner of breaking trade secret law by publishing stories on a "headless iMac" (the Mac Mini
), and an updated version of iWork
.
. He also wrote that Apple had passed the five-part test articulated in the California case Mitchell v. Superior Court (1984) that weighs whether a subpoena should be permitted over journalists' privilege
rights under the First Amendment.
The online news sites filed a petition
appealing the decision on March 22, 2005. Amici
supporting the journalists' petition include:
Amici supporting Apple include:
On June 2, 2005 the California Court of Appeal
issued an Order to Show Cause, asking Apple to show the Court "why a peremptory writ
should not issue as requested in the petition" filed by the online journalists. A hearing was held on April 20, 2006.
On May 26, 2006, the California Court of Appeal
granted the online journalists' petition. The Court summarized the unanimous decision as follows:
On March 4, 2005, in response to this lawsuit, 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.
Many bloggers criticized Apple's suit. Bloggers said that Apple might face a blogger-initiated boycott
, Mike Langberg wrote 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
."
In particular, critics accused Apple of using the lawsuit not only to protect its trade secrets, but to frighten its employees in order to prevent future leaking.
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
filed by Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
in December 2004 against unnamed individuals
John Doe
The name "John Doe" is used as a placeholder name in a legal action, case or discussion for a male party, whose true identity is unknown or must be withheld for legal reasons. The name is also used to refer to a male corpse or hospital patient whose identity is unknown...
. The suit, filed in Santa Clara County, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, alleges that the defendants leaked
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...
information about new Apple products to several online news sites, including AppleInsider
AppleInsider
AppleInsider is a news and rumor website that includes a forum for discussion of news stories and other community news.-Legal issues:In the late 1990s Apple successfully sued a John Doe from AppleInsider's boards with the username "Worker Bee" for revealing information on what would eventually...
and PowerPage. The articles at issue concerned a FireWire audio interface for GarageBand
GarageBand
GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iOS that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. as a part of the iLife software package on Mac OS X.-Audio recording:...
, codenamed Asteroid or Q7.
Apple is seeking information from these news sites regarding the identities of the sites' sources. It has subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
ed the owner of Think Secret
Think Secret
Think Secret, founded in 1998, was a web site which specialized in publishing reports and rumors about Apple Inc..The name of the site was a play on Apple's one-time advertising slogan, "Think Different". Think Secret's archives reached as far back as May 3, 1999. On December 20, 2007, it was...
, dePlume Organization LLC, as well as Nfox.com, the email service provider for PowerPage, for e-mail messages that may identify the confidential source. All parties concerned have publicly told Apple their intentions to the contrary.
Apple filed a trade secret
Trade secret
A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers...
suit over a separate issue against Think Secrets owner on January 4, 2004. This suit does not concern Asteroid, but instead accuses the site's owner of breaking trade secret law by publishing stories on a "headless iMac" (the Mac Mini
Mac Mini
The Mac Mini is a small form factor desktop computer manufactured by Apple Inc. Like earlier mini-ITX PC designs, it is uncommonly small for a desktop computer: 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches tall. It weighs 2.7 pounds...
), and an updated version of iWork
IWork
iWork is an office suite of desktop applications created by Apple for the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. The first version of iWork, iWork '05, was released in 2005. The suite originally bundled Keynote, a presentation program which had previously been sold as a standalone application, and...
.
Events in the case
On March 11, 2005, Judge James P. Kleinberg declined to grant a protective order that had been requested to block Apple's subpoenas, stating that he had found that the leaked information was an exact copy of a drawing taken from a confidential set of slides labeled 'Apple Need-to-Know Confidential". He wrote that the information was "stolen property, just as any physical item," and implied that websites posting such stolen information were analogous to criminal fencesFence (criminal)
A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...
. He also wrote that Apple had passed the five-part test articulated in the California case Mitchell v. Superior Court (1984) that weighs whether a subpoena should be permitted over journalists' privilege
Reporters' Privilege
Reporters' privilege in the United States, is a "reporter's protection under constitutional or statutory law, from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources"...
rights under the First Amendment.
The online news sites filed a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
appealing the decision on March 22, 2005. Amici
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...
supporting the journalists' petition include:
- the San Jose Mercury NewsSan Jose Mercury NewsThe San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
- the Hearst CorporationHearst CorporationThe Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
(San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
) - The McClatchy CompanyThe McClatchy CompanyThe McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...
(Sacramento Bee) - the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
- the Copley PressCopley PressCopley Press was a privately held newspaper business, founded in Illinois, but later based in La Jolla, California. Its flagship paper was The San Diego Union-Tribune.-Pulitzer Prizes:...
(San Diego Union-Tribune) - Freedom CommunicationsFreedom CommunicationsFreedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...
(Orange County Register) - the Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
- the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the PressReporters Committee for Freedom of the PressThe Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1970, that provides free legal assistance to and on behalf of journalists. A number of prominent journalists presently sit on the organization's steering committee, including Dan Rather, and Judy...
- the California Newspaper Publishers AssociationCalifornia Newspaper Publishers AssociationThe California Newspaper Publishers Association is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1888 that represents the daily and weekly newspapers of California. Its diverse membership consists of over 500 newspapers that elect 35 individuals to its governing board of directors...
- the California First Amendment CoalitionCalifornia First Amendment CoalitionThe First Amendment Coalition is a nonprofit public interest organization committed to freedom of speech, more open and accountable government, and public participation in civic affairs...
- the Society of Professional JournalistsSociety of Professional JournalistsThe Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in April 1909 at DePauw University, and its charter was designed by William Meharry Glenn. The ten founding members of...
- the Student Press Law CenterStudent Press Law CenterThe Student Press Law Center is a non-profit organization in the United States that aims at protecting the freedom of the press for student journalists, usually from high school and university student newspapers...
- the American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties UnionThe American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
- The Center for Individual FreedomCenter for Individual FreedomThe Center for Individual Freedom is an Alexandria, Virginia based U.S. lobbyist and policy advocacy organization founded on the principle of securing individual freedoms as embodied in the United States Constitution and state constitutions. It was founded in 1998 and tends to focus on...
- The First Amendment Project
- Reporters Without BordersReporters Without BordersReporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
- the Media Bloggers AssociationMedia Bloggers AssociationThe Media Bloggers Association is a United States membership-based, non-partisan voluntary association describing its activity as "supporting the development of 'blogging' or 'citizen journalism' as a distinct form of media"....
- four law professors
- numerous online journalists
- NetCoalition
- the United States Internet Industry Association.
Amici supporting Apple include:
- GenentechGenentechGenentech Inc., or Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology corporation, founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. Trailing the founding of Cetus by five years, it was an important step in the evolution of the biotechnology industry...
- Intel
- the Business Software AllianceBusiness Software AllianceThe Business Software Alliance is a trade group established in 1988 and representing a number of the world's largest software makers and is a member of the International Intellectual Property Alliance...
On June 2, 2005 the California Court of Appeal
California Court of Appeal
The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts...
issued an Order to Show Cause, asking Apple to show the Court "why a peremptory writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
should not issue as requested in the petition" filed by the online journalists. A hearing was held on April 20, 2006.
On May 26, 2006, the California Court of Appeal
California Court of Appeal
The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts...
granted the online journalists' petition. The Court summarized the unanimous decision as follows:
Apple Computer, Inc. (Apple), a manufacturer of computer hardware and software, brought this action alleging that persons unknown caused the wrongful publication on the World Wide Web of Apple’s secret plans to release a device that would facilitate the creation of digital live sound recordings on Apple computers. In an effort to identify the source of the disclosures, Apple sought and obtained authority to issue civil subpoenas to the publishers of the Web sites where the information appeared and to the email service provider for one of the publishers. The publishers moved for a protective order to prevent any such discovery. The trial court denied the motion on the ground that the publishers had involved themselves in the unlawful misappropriation of a trade secret. We hold that this was error because (1) the subpoena to the email service provider cannot be enforced consistent with the plain terms of the federal Stored Communications Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712); (2) any subpoenas seeking unpublished information from petitioners would be unenforceable through contempt proceedings in light of the California reporter’s shield (Cal. Const., art. I, § 2, subd (b); Evid. Code, § 1070); and (3) discovery of petitioners’ sources is also barred on this record by the conditional constitutional privilege against compulsory disclosure of confidential sources (see Mitchell v. Superior Court (1984) 37 Cal.3d 268 (Mitchell)). Accordingly, we will issue a writ of mandate directing the trial court to grant the motion for a protective order.
Apple v. dePlume
Apple's lawsuit against Think Secret is separate from its John Doe suit. In the Doe suit, it did not sue any journalists, but instead sought information through subpoenas to three Mac news websites concerning a product code-named "Asteroid"; Think Secret has done no original reporting on Asteroid. In contrast, Apple's suit against the dePlume Organization seeks damages from Think Secret for violation of Californian law against the dissemination of trade secrets over stories on the Mac mini and iWork.On March 4, 2005, in response to this lawsuit, 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.
Backlash
Some critics have said the lawsuit could reduce U.S. journalists' protections under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.Many bloggers criticized Apple's suit. Bloggers said that Apple might face a blogger-initiated boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
, Mike Langberg wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
warning that "The lawsuits pose an imminent threat to Apple's most precious asset: the company's reputation as a hip underdog
Underdog (competition)
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, frequently in electoral politics, sports and creative works, who is popularly expected to lose. The party, team or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the rare case where an underdog wins, the outcome is an upset. These...
, a cool alternative to bigger and blander competitors such as Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
and Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
."
In particular, critics accused Apple of using the lawsuit not only to protect its trade secrets, but to frighten its employees in order to prevent future leaking.
External links
- EFF's webpage on Apple v. Does
- AppleInsider
- PowerPage