Last week Apple was in court arguing its case against the bloggers that revealed its trade secrets, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Unfortunately, it wasn't the bloggers that Apple really wanted to get.

The target were the leakers who supplied information to the Web sites about Apple's plans for its products. And to get at those people they have to claim that trade secrets are so special they trump the First Amendment.

Like all journalists, we at the Business Press Blog have a vested interest in the outcome. If companies can come after our sources it will make it a bit harder to cover business news. It won't be a total catastrophe, of course, but part of our job is to get the news out first. It's why we offer breaking news on our Web site. Most of that doesn't involve trade secrets and it often involves things the companies have to announce or even want to announce.

But we're not a public relations megaphone and we never feel like we have to stick with a company's timetable. It will be a bad mistake if the California appeals court that heard the case last week decides that bloggers aren't entitled to protection as reporters. A real bad mistake.

Why? Because markets work best when there is the freest flow information and you can imagine that lots of stuff that ought to be known will suddenly become a trade secret if the courts accept this exception to the First Amendment.