A class act -- with help from Molly Raphael

What would you do if you had the chance to obtain inside information on a chief business rival?

This apparently wasn't much of a dilemma for Saucony President Richie Woodworth, who received an unsolicited offer for Nike's 2008 fall product catalog -- Nike being the business rival -- and promptly mailed it to Nike CEO Mark Parker.

Parker contacted the FBI. Which created a sting to catch the alleged seller. Which caught a Portland man. Who was charged with theft of trade secrets under the Economic Espionage Act.

And how did they catch the man? The Oregonian story said it was done by tracing the man's e-mail address "to the Multnomah County Library, which identified Reynold Sare Chapin as having used an Internet address linked to the e-mails."

Did you catch that, civil libertarians? The Multnomah County Library cooperated with -- gasp!! -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation to reveal a patron's identity in a criminal investigation.

As an aside, Woodworth hasn't heard a peep from anyone at Nike, and Nike's only official response was to say they "appreciate...Mr. Woodworth's collaboration on this matter." Gee, how warm and friendly. How classy.

But regardless -- bravo, Mr. Woodworth. And bravo to Molly Raphael, the library director.