Dan Nosowitz writes about the Gizmodo case:
… To figure out what’s what, I talked with Lawrence J. Siskind, a former special counsel to President Ronald Reagan and partner in the San Francisco law firm Harvey Siskind LLP, which specializes in trade secrets.
[…]
If you’re Star magazine, you don’t buy the sex tape, you pay to watch it, take a few saucy screen grabs. So instead of purchasing the phone itself, Gizmodo should have simply purchased access to the phone. This may seem like a small distinction, but according to Siskind, it would have made all the difference, and the San Mateo County DA would be essentially unable to prosecute. “In that case, it would be clear that what they were getting was information. The California shield law protects that information from either a subpoena or a warrant. Apple would be in a tough position here.”
Read more on FastCompany