Rumor site files special motion to dismiss Apple suit
updated 12:40 pm EST, Mon March 7, 2005
Apple dePlume lawsuit
The dePlume Organization has filed a special motion to have Apple's lawsuit against Think Secret dismissed on First Amendment grounds. "Apple's lawsuit is a affront to the First Amendment [...] If a publication such as the New York Times had published such information, it would be called good journalism; Apple never would have considered a lawsuit." The motion to dismiss the complaint was filed in California Superior Court under the California Anti-SLAPP Statute, a law designed to stem meritless lawsuits that attempt to chill valid constitutional exercises of freedom of speech. The court filings also say that the information published is not entitled to trade secret protection under the law as it already had been publicly disclosed and had no economic value. Apple's lawsuit against Think Secret is a separate action from its "John Doe" suit in which Apple did not sue any journalists, but instead sought information through subpoenas.
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Joined: Feb 2000
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Any public corporation must declare potential harms to the company in their financial statements. These potential risks to the corporate health are long lists of any potential dangers, including loss of the CEO, terrorist strikes, lack of chips from suppliers, failure of products to catch on with the public, raising price of commodities, etc.
They have to list these potential harms by law. Never has Apple Computer listed "effective investigative reporting by internet rumor site" as a harm at all. It has never been mentioned in the financial world because thus far it simply does not affect the bottom line.
You can't have paranoid corporate execs pulling information from the internet just so they can have a bloated ego splash 4 days later. This is not China, and I'm surprised Apple is given any consideration here, unless they can prove harm which is impossible.