California Court Takes a Bite Out of Apple

In Apple v. Does (a.k.a. O’Grady v. Superior Court) Apple Computer sought to find the sources of certain leaks and rumors relating to trade secrets associated with an Apple product. Apple wanted to compel an email provider and Web publishers to divulge the information and the California Court of Appeal said “‘no,” ruling that the Stored Communications Act (the “Act”) prohibits these kinds of civil discovery efforts and prohibits Apple from compelling disclosure of the identity of the Websites’ sources. Aside from the holding that such a subpoena is not enforceable under the plain meaning of the Act, a subpoena compelling the disclosure of unpublished information from these particular entities would be unenforceable because of shield protections afforded reporters in California and, under the facts presented to the court, trying to get at these particular sources is protected by a conditional constitutional privilege against compulsory disclosure of confidential sources. If all this sounds like a lot of legal-ease, the bottom line is that Apple was barred from obtaining this type of information.