Apple has two lawsuits pending that involve rumor-tracking Web sites. In Apple Computer v. Doe No. 1, et al. (or Apple v. Does for short), the company is suing up to 25 unnamed individuals for misappropriation of trade secrets?specifically, leaking Apple's confidential information about an unreleased audio product code-named "Asteroid" to Think Secret, AppleInsider, and Jason O'Grady's PowerPage.
As part of the discovery process, Apple obtained subpoenas for all three sites for any and all information related to "Asteroid," including the identity of all people who leaked the information, or communications that might reveal said identities. None of the sites is a defendant in the Does suit, though Apple has made clear that they could be named as defendants if evidence shows that they knowingly published Apple's trade secrets (and Think Secret is a defendant in a second lawsuit not related to "Asteroid").
Both Think Secret and AppleInsider have their own e-mail service, so obtaining information about their e-mail records and messages would require subpoenaing the sites themselves, invoking difficulties about journalist privileges. When Apple learned that PowerPage used an external e-mail provider, the company's legal team found its path of least resistance. Nfox has gone beyond refusal to contest the subpoena?the ISP refused to promise O'Grady that it would not comply with the subpoena before appeals were exhausted. That's when the Electronic Frontier Foundation, representing the three sites, went to court seeking a protective order on O'Grady's behalf to prevent Nfox from turning over the information to Apple.
On March 4, lawyers for Apple and for the three subpoenaed sites met in the San Jose courtroom of Superior Court Judge James P. Kleinberg. The ...