Judge not convinced by Apple's trade secrets argument, unseals docs

A judge has denied Apple's request to keep certain court documents sealed in its copyright infringement case against Mac clone maker Psystar.

US District Judge William Alsup ordered that portions of the parties' summary judgement be unsealed and filed publicly without any redaction. The ruling came after another judge's comments in September, who argued that Apple had failed to articulate specific reasons for the documents to remain sealed. Apple and Psystar have been engaging in a legal battle since July of 2008, with Apple arguing that Psystar was violating Apple's copyrights by selling non-Macs with Mac OS X installed. Psystar attempted to defend itself by arguing that the OS X licensing agreement was an "unlawful attempt to extend copyright protection to products that are not copyrightable." Apple eventually won its copyright case, as well as an appeal from Psystar, but Apple maintained that its summary judgements should stay sealed for fear of publishing trade secrets about OS X's functionality.