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Apple, Think Secret settle lawsuit
December 20, 2007 - PRESS RELEASE: 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."

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/settlement.html

beleive me - they'll be back with a new name.

And the dude is just happy he's not going to have to pay a bunch of money to Apple.

The guy that publishes that does regular Apple stuff on ZDNet, so while the ThinkDifferent page is going away, the content is just moving to a new site.

Thresher wrote:

The guy that publishes that does regular Apple stuff on ZDNet, so while the ThinkDifferent page is going away, the content is just moving to a new site.

That makes sense.

Looking over their page (I haven't been there in several months) it's not like it's a huge loss - they're publishing maybe one news story a week, sometimes not even that, as it is.

What was the law suit over?

It goes all the way back to the headless iMac rumors that floated the Intarwebs in late 2004 which eventually led to the Mac Mini at MacWorld in 2005. Apple sued saying (IIRC) basically that ThinkSecret acted in such a way that it coerced its sources into giving away trade secrets.

And since ThinkSecret seems really happy with the settlement that left it unpublished, I have to think that Apple apparently had a enough of a case that TS thought they might lose. I thinks someone slept with someone else and pillowtalk led to its early unveiling.* Or maybe TS just didn't want some detail to be made public.

*this is most likely not true

Actually, it comes down to a device that Apple never actually introduced. It was some sort of breakout box for audio recording. It was called Asteroid, I think.

And the dude is just happy he's not going to have to pay a bunch of money to Apple.

It's the other way around. In California, if a company is found to have suppressed legal speech, they have to pay triple damages in court. This has already cost Apple $700K with two other Apple rumor sites.

Apple was going to lose its case against TS, so they bought him out instead and the owner didn't have to reveal his sources. NYTimes had an article detailing the history of the case.

Got a link to the article?

Thresher wrote:

Actually, it comes down to a device that Apple never actually introduced. It was some sort of breakout box for audio recording. It was called Asteroid, I think.

You sure?

(Note: Apple's lawsuit against Think Secret is a separate action from its "John Doe" suit; in the Doe suit Apple did not sue any journalists, but instead sought information through subpoenas to three Mac news Web sites, including Think Secret, concerning a product called "Asteroid." Think Secret has done no original reporting on Asteroid. In contrast, Apple's lawsuit against the dePlume Organization seeks damages from Think Secret, a news organization.)

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/antislapp.html

To me that reads like it's specifically *not* Asteroid.

and then this:

In its latest lawsuit seeking to clamp down on leaks, Apple Computer has added credibility to several hot rumors, including plans to offer a cheaper Macintosh and its own line of office software.

http://www.news.com/Apple-suit-foreshad ... 13582.html