Apple and Psystar Agree to Order Protecting Trade Secrets in Litigation

Apple sued Psystar for allegedly marketing and selling unlicensed Mac clones, see http://www.pcworld.com/article/159937/whats_at_stake_in_the_applepsystar_case.html . As all lawsuits do, after the pleadings are complete the case proceeds to the discovery phase. In cases involving intellectual property and claims of misappropriation the discovery phase implicates the disclosure and review of competitively sensitive materials - documents, things and testimony. What parties routinely do in these cases is negotiate and persuade the judge to enter a protective order - a court order that essentially permits the parties to show and review certain documents, things and testimony but also creating protocols to make sure that information is not shown to the wrong people or the public.

That's what Apple and Psystar have done - they've negotiated and obtained a protective order. Here is their motion to the court to get that protective order: http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/3:2008cv03251/204881/54/.

This is a slow trade secrets day so we thought we'd just explain what a protective order is used for in these cases so that some of you might learn a little more about this area of law.