Explain this. If I found an object in the street, couldn't I sell it on Ebay?
Explain this. If I found an object in the street, couldn't I sell it on Ebay?
If you advertised the object as being a development project from some big electronic company and sold it that way, I would expect the first people to contact you -- to be, perhaps, the police, doncha know ... :-)
Gizmodo faces visit from cops over 'found' iPhone
By Bill Ray
Posted 26th April 2010 10:04 GMTA tech blog that paid five grand to the finder of a prototype iPhone is under police investigation, as it seems buying found property is against the law. Gizmodo paid $5,000 to the chap who found a next-generation iPhone in a bar, and the blog made merry with the device before returning it to Apple - after forcing Cupertino to admit that the prototype was genuine, in writing. But it seems that paying for found property is illegal in California, and now CNET reports that the police are taking an interest.
The prototype iPhone was left in a bar by an engineer who was field-testing it; with the launch scheduled for June it makes sense that Apple would do some field testing. An unknown person picked it up and played with it briefly before Apple remotely pulled the plug. That person apparently tried to return the handset to Apple, but the support desk staff (who don't have access to the goings on in the R&D department) told him it was just Chinese knock-off and not to bother them with it.
So he sold it to Gizmodo, who spent a week taking it apart and then posted the details, causing their servers to melt down as everyone scrambled to get sight of the device (sight only, the software was long gone).
[ ... see more at link ... ]
the laws of found objects are explicit and are similar to those of objects placed with someone for storage. Statutorily a "bailment" is created and the finder has a duty to attempt to return the object to it's rightful owner, or to turn that object over to the authorities who will make the attempt. If, after making the attempt, and the passage of a specified period of time, the authorities determine the owner cannot be found, the finder may claim the item.
That did not happen here. Instead, the finder "converted" the object for his use by selling it to a third party. Under the law, that conversion is considered theft. Further, he sold it for an amount that made the theft the equivalent of Grand Theft, a felony.
Then, to complicate the issue, Gizmodo purchased the "stolen" iPhone, something their attorneys could have advised them was a clearly illegal act, and because they knew this phone did not belong to who they were buying it from, they then knowingly became recipients of stolen property, another felony.
I suspect the DA will toss in conspiracy charges as well.