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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,296
30,382


The L.A. Times cites sources in-the-know that claim that ThinkSecret's Nick Ciarelli did indeed receive some amount of monetary compensation from Apple as part of their final settlement.
[Ciarelli] also received a payment from Apple, according to a person familiar with the case. Both sides declined to discuss details of the agreement.
There has been a tremendous amount of speculation that this may have been the case, but no real confirmation.

ThinkSecret issued a statement late last week that they had reached an amicable settlement with Apple over an almost 3 year old lawsuit accusing ThinkSecret of illegally obtaining and disseminating Apple trade secrets.. The only details of the settlement revealed were that ThinkSecret would not reveal their sources, and would no longer be published. Later comments from Ciarelli's lawyer suggested that Apple settled to avoid potentially losing the case if it were pursued. Apple, however, has made no public comments settlement.

Article Link
 

zap2

macrumors 604
Mar 8, 2005
7,252
8
Washington D.C
Duhhhh!!!

This is the only way that shutting the site down would have been a "win"

Interested in how much though...although I'd bet Apple made he promise not to tell(or he's lose the $$)
 

gugy

macrumors 68040
Jan 31, 2005
3,882
5,295
La Jolla, CA
what's the big deal about this.
lack of any news is a bad thing.
Let's move on. TS was dead long time ago anyway. So it doesn't matter.

Update the damn MacPro at MWSF! :eek::D
 

JPT

macrumors regular
May 4, 2006
247
0
what's the big deal about this.
lack of any news is a bad thing.
Let's move on. TS was dead long time ago anyway. So it doesn't matter.

Update the damn MacPro at MWSF! :eek::D

Nope sorry, the Mac Pro Update funds were given to Nick. So no updates for another year :(


:p
 

DiamondMac

macrumors 68040
Aug 11, 2006
3,301
20
Washington, D.C.
Not a shocker. This is how a high majority of cases like this get dealt with.

I don't blame the guy either though I can see a lot don't understand why he did it. Money talks and it is very easy for many to say they would/wouldn't do something when the actual money isn't there
 

ventro

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2006
692
0
I'm guessing around $1M. We might be able to find out when Apple posts their financials and we can dig through their expenditures.
 

4God

macrumors 68020
Apr 5, 2005
2,132
267
My Mac
what's the big deal about this.
lack of any news is a bad thing.
Let's move on. TS was dead long time ago anyway. So it doesn't matter.

Update the damn MacPro at MWSF! :eek::D

I'm actually a little indifferent about the whole ThinkSecret thing, but wouldn't it be a great Christmas present to have MacPros released on Tuesday the 25th? ;)
 

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
Let the man have his space. If he got money, good for him. If not, oh well.

Slow news day? Really, I think this one's been laid to rest already.
 

andy721

macrumors 6502a
Sep 29, 2007
591
0
FL
hah

I'm actually a little indifferent about the whole ThinkSecret thing, but wouldn't it be a great Christmas present to have MacPros released on Tuesday the 25th? ;)

Im with you on this one, I been wanting a new comp but god for bid if steve doesn't release the macpro before christmas has to be in jan 2000 of 8 which sucks because that means I have to wait.:mad: F**K!
 

sord

macrumors 6502
Jun 16, 2004
352
0
<sarcasm>Oh well, no one needs TS, we all know there will be new Powerbook G5s on Tuesday (Christmas day)!</sarcasm> (which would be so absurd if it actually happened, I can't even fathom the reactions

:( we'll miss ya TS!
 

Sayer

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2002
981
0
Austin, TX
I would imagine Apple merely paid some "fair" amount of future earnings Nick would have received had he kept his web site in operation.

I am mystified why Apple would choose to settle when Nick wasn't accused of merely publishing "trade secrets" someone gave him, he was charged with coercing someone at Apple to violate their NDA/employment contract and give all manner of info to Nick to publish on his website.

Nick always seemed to get "hooked up" with the latest seeds of OS X and other apps, and some hardware info, so someone in the range of middle-management must have gotten a thrill in spilling the beans for so long and never getting caught.

The real winner in all this mess is the leaker(s) at Apple that was, apparently, never found out.
 

jwkicks

macrumors newbie
Jun 19, 2007
27
0
I'm sure tight non-disclosure statements were signed. We'll probably never find out.
 

MacFly123

macrumors 68020
Dec 25, 2006
2,340
0
WHOOOOOOOO CAAAAAAAARES!!!!!!!!!! No **** he got money! Duh! Now for some REAL news please!!!!!!!
 

Stridder44

macrumors 68040
Mar 24, 2003
3,973
198
California
You've got that right! That's exactly my point. Think Different? I think not :mad:

If they guy didn't wanna do it he wouldn't have taken the money. Just because a apple rumors site went down doesn't mean apple rumors is ending as we know it. Torrent sites go down all the time, and new ones start up the same day.

There are a lot of people out there that are interested in apple rumors. The "leaked info from someone close to apple" isn't gonna disappear anytime soon.
 

xappeal

macrumors regular
Dec 9, 2005
106
0
Brisbane - Australia
Funny, I bet Apple are happy that all their money is linked to the guy from Think Secret actually keeping a secret!

Sweet payback... It'd be killing him if he wasn't swimming in a pool of $100 notes...
 
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