Win some, lose some. Apple computer lost its appeal in a case involving a blog’s early disclosure of the company’s upcoming new products.

Last year, following a number of incidents, Apple sued a ‘rumor site’ which had broken several stories about forthcoming Apple products. Apple argued that the site was violating the company’s trade secrets, and the lower court agreed, overruling the site owners’ argument that their publication of the stories was protected under the first amendment as journalism.

The California Court of Appeals, however has ruled in the bloggers’ favor, stating that web publications are covered under the same first amendment protections as offline publications.

The court refused to get into a lengthy discussion of whether journalism is ‘legitimate’. The so-called ‘reporter’s shield law’ is designed to protect the gathering and dissemination of news… which is exactly what the web-site did.