Can Sony Sue Media Outlets Who Publish the Stolen Sony Documents?

By: Eugene Volokh | Washington Post

David Boies, representing Sony, has written a letter to various media outlets, demanding that they not publish or otherwise use the stolen Sony documents, and threatening lawsuits if the information in the documents is indeed “used or disseminated by [the receipients] in any manner.

Does Sony have a legal leg to stand on? Probably not, at least as to most of the information that media outlets would want to publish. There are two relevant precedents, which aren’t squarely on point, but which are pretty close.