Will Apple sue the WSJ?

It looks very much like Apple leaked this information intentionally, with senior (i.e. Steve Jobs) approval. If Steve's decided he wants people to know, I don't think you could argue it's a trade secret any more. I don't see this as Apple not suing the WSJ because it prefers traditional media. I see it as Apple telling the WSJ about its stuff (and thus not being able to sue it), because it prefers traditional media. As John Gruber pointed out, the Wall Street Journal is not likely to get itself into a position where it could be sued for illegally printing trade secret information.

Maybe we know the real reason Apple pursued the bloggers so tenaciously. It seems to me it put up a huge smoke screen and put people with any information about the transition to Intel on the backfoot about whether they should reveal the information. It will be interesting to see if Apple continues to pursue the courtcases now the the news about the Intel swithc is out

joshxfoo: In the sense that the information comes form a distinct source and is transmitted to a distinct audience of paid subscibers--online or in print--and people who pick it up at the news stand in the morning, yes. It may be that more people actually read the WSJ than all the rumor blogs put together, but in theory a rumor that memes has unlimited distribution, as well as multiple sources.

Plus a week isn't going to hit Apple financially. What Think Secret did was leak "secrets" for a whatever-that-thing-is that hasn't even been released yet. Fishes, narco.

as Michael Gartenberg (sp) points out on the latest MAKE Mag podcast, reporting leaked information on an upcoming deal between two companies is pretty common practice. However, reporting specific details about a specific product that is only available to people under a NDA is not really common (or acceptable).

So what exactly is the intellectual property/trade secret leaked by WSJ or c|net?

I assumed Apple leaked the news to the WSJ to soften the Intel news for the markets on the assumption that the markets love news but not necessarily surprises. If Apple leaked for this reason it apparently work, as there weren't any wild swings in the stock price after the announcement.

The Wall Street Journal has a "limited circulation" as compared to Mac rumor blogs? Ha!