Apple skips blogger appeal

Apple has decided not appeal a recent Court of Appeals decision that barred the company from issuing a subpoena to online journalists, bloggers, and their ISPs. In late May, a California Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision and protected Mac websites and magazines from Apple's subpoenas until Apple could show cause--an important case for Mac websites, online journalists, and bloggers alike. Frowned upon by news organizations, the subpoenas were an effort by the Cupertino-based company to uncover the person who leaked information about an unannounced product called Asteroid almost 18 months ago--the company was trying to compel the reporters to reveal their confidential sources. The negative publicity surrounding the lawsuits was noted by several publications as well as major newspapers in the US, although one publication says it was not doing any harm to the company.

Siding with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) along with several other traditional publications, the Court of Appeals declared that bloggers and online journalists were entitled to the same Constitutional and state law protections as traditional journalists as well as ruled that Apple could not subpoena information from a journalist's internet service provider (ISP). A separate

The unanimous ruling from a three-panel judge overturned the trial court on all counts, saying that the online journalists, which included the PowerPage and AppleInsider were deserving of protections under both the California Shield Law and The First Amendment as well as federal laws that protected their email carriers.

Apple had nearly 40 days to file an appeal, but recently filed a case management statement officially saying that it did not appeal. The statement noted that the Appeals Court overturned the trial court on the protective order issue and "Apple did not appeal that decision."

A separate civil lawsuit against rumor site ThinkSecret is still pending.

by MacNN Staff