Australian IT JOBS : Sydney IT jobs, UNIX jobs, Linux jobs, Java jobs, ASP jobs Linux.conf.au Linux.conf.au
Technology news and Jobs arrow Information Technology News arrow ThinkSecret shuttered to settle Apple suit
ThinkSecret shuttered to settle Apple suit PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stephen Withers   
Friday, 21 December 2007
Popular Apple rumours site ThinkSecret.com has ceased publishing in order to settle a court case brought against it by Apple.
A terse statement on the site says simply "Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published. Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret's publisher, said 'I'm pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.'"

The saga began in early 2005 when Apple sued Ciarelli, the site's publisher and editor in chief, alleging that certain stories appearing on Think Secret were in violation of Californian trade secret laws.

As the statement implies, the case was largely about the protection of journalists' sources. Apple believed that the people supplying Ciarelli with information were its own employees and demanded their identities be disclosed; Think Secret resisted. A court ruled that online journalists have the same protections as their conventional colleagues.

While Think Secret's disclosures didn't always turn out to be 100 percent correct, its general level of accuracy apparently upset Apple, which has a general practice of releasing no information about forthcoming products until they are ready to ship. Recent exceptions to that policy have been the iPhone (the need for regulatory approval meant the company couidn't keep it a secret right up to introduction) and Mac OS X 10.5 (third party developers needed time to adapt their software to take advantage of new features).

Ciarelli started Think Secret when he was thirteen. He is now a final-year Harvard undergraduate.

He told The Wall Street Journal that the settlement would also give him more flexibility to do a startup company, if he chooses that path. That could merely be a recognition of the burden represented by the suit, but it could also imply that money changed hands in his favour.

Tags See All Tags


Apple  Intellectual property rights  Litigation  Stephen Withers 

Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now
When you subscribe get a 12 months license for LiveProject
Valued at $99 USD


LiveWire - Desktop alerts Download the FREE iTWire desktop alert widget LiveWire - Desktop alerts


Del.icio.us!
 
< Prev   Next >
JobsWire Technology Jobs in Sydney
Active Directory  Apache  Software Architect  C#  C++  Cisco  Citrix Cognos  Coldfusion  CRM  Crystal Reports  Software Development  ERP  HTML  IBM  IT Infrastructure  ITIL  J2EE  Java  LAN/WAN  Linux  Lotus Notes  MS Project  .NET  Oracle  SDLC  SQL  IT Support  IT Training  UAT  UML  Unix  XML
JobWire - IT Jobs
Contact , Register , Advertise with iTWire , Links , Register , About iTWire , Feedback , Post your jobs , Events , iTWire site map , Start Blogging
Industry Releases , Submit your release now , Start submitting to iTWire , How to post video