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Say That Again

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Jan 26th 2005 12:41pm





ThinkSecret Fights Back

from the good-for-them dept

ThinkSecret's new lawyer is coming out swinging in response to Apple's lawsuit against the site, telling Apple it's in their best interest to just drop the case altogether. He makes the point that if this were a large newspaper, there's no way Apple would file the lawsuit, suggesting this is just a tactic to intimidate bloggers and fan sites. If this does make it to court, it could make for quite an interesting ruling.

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  1.  
    identicon
    TJ, Jan 26th, 2005 @ 6:31pm

    Emperor has no clothes

    Now that ThinkSecret has a lawyer I wouldn't mind seeing it go forward so Apple could get smacked down. First, Apple only has any case against the leaker of the information, not the publisher. Just as important is that the trade secret argument is crap. Apple is suing because someone released information publicly shortly before Apple did so itself. If the information was truly a trade secret, Apple would have kept it secret. The formula for coca-cola is a trade secret, the specs of a new computer that Apple has shipped before the case even goes to trial are not.
    Trade secret: A device, method or formula that gives one an advantage over the competition and which must therefore be kept secret if it is to be of special value.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
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    RJD, Jan 27th, 2005 @ 6:36am

    Should go forward

    Actually this could be interesting. I'm a big reader of ThinkSecret so I wish him well. But I do understand Apple's position on this ... not sure about the legal aspect ... but As I see it the facts are:

    1) Thinksecret SOLICITS (overtly requests) private information
    2) Someone is breaking an agreement (I suspect these are the real 'criminals' in the case) by providing the information.
    3) ThinkSecret is publishing this information with caveats concerning its viability.

    So the real question in Apple vs. ThinkSecret is "is it against the law to request information guarded by a confidentiality agreement?"

    Any lawyers out there know the answer to that one ?

    I'm hoping that thinkSecret wins this hands down and the info providers get to keep their identities secret. I enjoy the sites early speculation on upcoming apple gear regardless or how accurate the information really is.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, Jan 27th, 2005 @ 7:00am

    Re: Should go forward

    And you've never heard a report say, "Officer/Senator/Congressperson/VIP, is there anything you can tell me 'off the record'?"

    What is that if not a request for confidential information?

    That's pretty much the way the media works in this country.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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