“Apple Computer has abandoned a high-profile legal effort to unmask whoever leaked details about a still-unreleased music accessory,” Declan McCullagh reports for CNET News.
“The company’s deadline to continue a legal battle to find out who leaked the information to independent online journalists has passed, and Apple acknowledged in a brief court filing this week that it will not take its fight to the California Supreme Court,” McCullagh reports.
“On May 26, a state appeals court rejected Apple’s attempt to send a subpoena to obtain records and archived e-mail from Jason O’Grady, PowerPage.org’s creator, and Kasper Jade, the pseudonymous publisher and editor-in-chief of AppleInsider,” McCullagh reports.
“The three-judge panel rejected Apple’s arguments that the independent reporters were not true journalists. ‘We decline the implicit invitation to embroil ourselves in questions of what constitutes ‘legitimate journalism,” the court said, ruling that California’s journalist shield law would protect the Web reporters,” McCullagh reports. “By not appealing its loss, though, Apple has set a legal precedent that could embolden other journalists (and perhaps other leakers) in the future.”
Full article here.
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