Apple’s Lawsuit takes interesting turn

Apple’s Lawsuit takes interesting turn

Advocates of the free speech have requested to the state judge to grant similar protection rights to the three independent journalists, which are given to the mainstream journalists. The three journalists in questions are the reporters of websites, which revealed confidential information about the upcoming Apple products before they were announced by the company in the market. Apple had filed a company trade secrets lawsuit against these online magazines.

Interestingly, Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg had ruled on Thursday that these three journalists should reveal their sources to Apple who are said to be employees of Apple Computers. Critics say that the judge took a dim view of the idea, which suggests media could publish information on the web, or print which they could only have obtained by breaking the law.

He spoke about the court case: “Theft and use of trade secrets is a crime – a felony. Isn’t there a balance … between trade secrets and protections of journalists?” he is due to announce the final decision next week. The three journalists under Apple’s attack are reporters of Apple Insider and PowerPage: Monish Bhatia, Kasper Jade, and Jason O’Grady.

They could be charged under criminal violations of the U.S. Trade Secrets Act if they fail to reveal their sources to the Apple’s lawyers. This would make them vulnerable to punishment, as the laws protecting the journalists no longer would apply on them. They claim that if they reveal their sources, it would create a “chilling effect” which would in the end weaken the media to report in the public’s interest.