Appellate Judges Question Apple's Trade Secrets Claim
Appellate Judges Question Apple's Trade Secrets Claim
by , 4:35 PM EDT, April 20th, 2006
In the ongoing legal battle between Apple and PowerPage publisher Jason O'Grady, the State of California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District pushed Apple lawyers during a hearing Thursday, going so far as to directly question Apple's claim that product information leaked to PowerPage constituted a trade secret.
ZDNet's Ina Fried reported that the court's presiding judge, Conrad Rushing, asked an Apple attorney, "You don't really claim this is a new technology? This is plugging a guitar into a computer."
The question referred to a never-released product named Asteroid that Apple was developing for the digital music recording market. A FireWire breakout box, Asteroid would have acted as an interface between guitars (and other real instruments) and your Macs.
In response to the question, attorney George Riley called the release of this information to a Web site a "very serious theft," the same argument made by Apple in earlier hearings covered by The Mac Observer.
"(The three Web sites) were merely fencing stolen information," Mr. Riley told Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg in a March 4th, 2005 hearing. "We're vitally concerned about the precedent this would set. We didn't bring this case lightly."
That hearing resulted in Judge Kleinberg granting Apple access to the e-mail records of Jason O'Grady, which is what is being appealed to the Court of Appeals.
Attorneys with the Electronic Freedom Foundation representing Mr. O'Grady have attacked Apple's attempts to gain access to his sources in part because the company did not exhaust other avenues, something required by established precedent in cases where corporations looked to gain access to a journalist's sources. Specifically, Apple didn't question its own employees under oath, something that Apple has said in court it shouldn't have to do.
Though Judge Kleinberg agreed with Apple, issuing the original ruling giving Apple the access it wanted, tough questioning from the appellate court might be an indication that it considers press freedoms to be more important.
That said, however, there are many examples of appellate judge questioning that have appeared to indicate the court's direction, only to have a different ruling. Accordingly, readers should be cautioned from reading too much into today's hearing.
There is more information on the hearing in Ina Fried's coverage at ZDNet.
Observer Comments
Comments are currently closed. Please email the author instead.
Recent Headlines - Updated July 5th
- Fri, 10:29 AM
- News - Apple Warns of Learning Interchange Security Breach
- 7:30 AM
- News - Happy Fourth of July!
- Thu, 6:07 PM
- TMO Scoop - Psystar Moves to Drop Bankruptcy Ahead of Apple Legal Battle
- 5:37 PM
- News - Uncomfirmed Reports Say Apple & Nvidia On The Outs
- 4:57 PM
- News - Microsoft Sick Over Barf Ad
- 4:09 PM
- Product News - KRK Ships R6 Passive Studio Monitor for Recording
- 3:45 PM
- John Martellaro's Blog - Particle Debris (week ending 7/2) Juiced, Joost and Goosed
- 3:12 PM
- Product News - ExactScan 2 Pro Released
- 1:56 PM
- Deal Brothers - Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive: $324.00 Delivered
- 12:46 PM
- TMO Appearances - TMO Appearances Jeff Gamet Shares iPhone Apps on MacJury
- 10:41 AM
- Product News - Art Text 2.2 Adds New Templates, Layer Options [Updated]
- 10:04 AM
- Hot Forum Topic - Deciphering Mac Sales
The Mac Observer Reader Specials
- Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
OWC: Premium Memory for Mac without the Premium Price. DDR2 4GB from $47.99, DDR3 4GB for Unibody $79.99, Mac Pro 4GB $97.99. Expert Support, Free Installation Videos & Guides. www.MacSales.com
If you're using a Mac, then you've gotta check out Full Tilt Poker for Mac. This Full Tilt Poker bonus code does the unthinkable, it actually rewards!
RamJet Memory: MacBook and MacBook Pro 4GB kits for $57.99! Mac Pro 4GB Kits $99.99! iMac and Mac mini 4GB Kits for $57.99! 1TB SATA Hard Drives for $109.99! Click hereFor the latest Apple products use Ciao, a price comparison website, to find laptops like MacBook Air. Then find the best prices on MP3 players and use our comparison tool to evaluate mobile phones like the Apple iPhone.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.


