The legal battle between Ellen Pao and the legendary Silicon Valley Venture Capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has sparked a media frenzy over the prevalence of gender discrimination in California’s technology entrepreneurship gold rush. We worry that the outcome of all this attention may actually be less than positive for women and minorities in the technology sector.

The trail riveted the media with tales of questionable dinner invitations, suggestive books and inappropriate conversations on private jets. That’s pretty mild fare by the standard of modern scandals, but apparently it’s racy stuff for the Valley’s techno-nerds. While we agree the tech world has a significant diversity problem, we leave the merits of this particular case to the jury, which exonerated the VC firm and ruled against all of Pao’s claims. The bigger question is whether the courtroom is a constructive venue for change and what should be done to improve the lot of women and minorities in tech.