Ars Technica reports on the finding of a Californian court that Apple failed to conduct due diligence when issuing subpoeanas to the operators of rumour websites earlier this year. In failing to conduct an in-house check for the cause of the document leak, attempting to compel disclosure from journalists was unjustified, the Court said:

Documents (PDF) unsealed in Californian state court shows that Apple failed to comply with the state laws when they legally pressed AppleInsider and PowerPage to reveal their sources. In March of this year a judge ruled that the websites will have to cough up the names of their confidential sources in response to lawsuits filed by Apple over product leaks. The sites had reported insider information in December 2004 on a supposedly upcoming product from Apple called "Asteroid," which some people believe is a FireWire audio interface for GarageBand.

Apple’s lawyers immediately went after the sites, subpoenaing them to reveal their sources. The defendants responded that they were journalists, and were protected by California’s shield law. …

It appears that Apple has adopted a shoot-first, ask questions later approach to dealing with rumors sites. The company took no depositions, required no oaths from its employees, and failed to subpoena anyone related to the company or the development of the device in question.