I’ve read the very interesting decision in *Apple vs. Doe 1-25* (2005-03-11, PDF) regarding the leaking of Mac Mini information to several websites. In the decision, the judge makes some interesting observations regarding trade secrets. Here are some quotes:
1. Reporters and their sources do not have a license to violate criminal laws.
2. Much of the movant’s papers and their oral argument stressed the public’s interest in Apple and its products. Movants miss the point. Of course the public is interested in Apple. [...] But an *interested public* is not the same as the *public interest*.
3. Unlike the whistleblower who discloses a health, safety, or welfare hazard affecting all, or the government employee who reveals mismanagement or worse by our public officials, the movants are doing nothing more than feeding the public’s insatiable desire for information.
4. The right to keep and maintain proprietary information as such is a right which the California legislature and courts have long affirmed and which is essential to the future of technology and innovation generally. The Court sees no reason to abandon that right even if it were to assume, *arguendo*, movants are “journalists” as they claim they are.
#Copyright