The Bear Flag League, of which OC Blog is a proud member, has joined the legal fight for our freedom to blog:
80 CALIFORNIA BLOGGERS WEIGH IN ON APPLE SUBPOENA CASE
Irvine, CA. April 15, 2005. Today, the Bear Flag League -- a coalition of 80 bloggers who are current and former California residents -- filed a friend of the court brief with the California Sixth District Court of Appeal in O'Grady v. Superior Court. The O'Grady case is an appellate proceeding arising from a lawsuit filed by Apple Computer in Santa Clara County in December 2004. Apple sued unnamed individuals who are accused of leaking information regarding Apple's new products to several news websites. Apple has initiated discovery procedures available under California law to identify the source of the leaked information, including serving a subpoena to the Internet service provider for one of the news websites. Apple hopes that the subpoena will reveal the identity of its employees or other parties involved in the leaks. The publishers of the news websites have asked the Santa Clara County Superior Court to block Apple's discovery in order to protect the publishers' confidential sources. When the Superior Court denied that request, the publishers filed a petition with the Sixth District Court of Appeal. The lawsuit involves the competing interests of the First Amendment guarantees of a free press on the one hand and Apple's rights to protect the unlawful dissemination of its trade secrets on the other.
The Bear Flag League is an unincorporated association of current and former residents of the State of California who operate and/or contribute to 80 blogs. The League was formed in July 2003 in order to collaborate and publish articles concerning California culture, current events, legal issues and politics for the reading public.
The brief filed by the League today urges the Sixth District Court of Appeal to afford these website publishers and all bloggers the same privileges and protection from discovery that traditional print and broadcast journalists enjoy under the United States and California Constitution. Because these website publishers targeted by Apple are engaged in the same news gathering and reporting activities as print journalists, broadcast reporters and Internet bloggers, they have the right to protect their confidential sources and thereby maintain a strong, independent and free press.
The League's brief was prepared by a number of the League's lawyer members, including, Justene Adamec of PUMILIA & ADAMEC LLP and Jeffrey Lewis and Benjamin P. Pugh of Enterprise Counsel Group, ALC, whose contact information is below.
A copy of the League's brief is attached to this email and may also be downloaded here.
The League's homepage is located at www.BearFlagLeague.com.
Justene Adamec
PUMILIA & ADAMEC LLP
555 W 5th St Ste 3100
Los Angeles, CA 90013-1010
Tel. (213) 622-3006
Fax. (213) 622-3006Jeffrey Lewis
Benjamin P. Pugh
ENTERPRISE COUNSEL GROUP, ALC
Five Park Plaza, Suite 450
Irvine, California 92614
Tel. (949) 833-8550
Fax. (949) 833-8540
As Orange Countians, we should be proud that one of our conservative local attorneys, Mr. Ben Pugh, is on the case. His blog is here. He, his colleague Jeffrey Lewis and Justene Adamec of CalBlog deserve our thanks and support in defending the frontiers of blogdom in these early, formative years. It is vital to draw these bright lines now on terms favorable to bloggers, while the situation is fluid.
Good luck, boys. Hopefully, the court will extend to ustedes bloggers the same rights us "legitimate" reporters already have and--as David Shaw's ridiculous piece showed--frequently take for granted.
Posted by: Gustavo Arellano | April 15, 2005 at 01:10 PM
I read the brief, and it is nicely done. I've also posted on this development.
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
RICHARD
Posted by: Richard | April 17, 2005 at 01:25 PM