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REACT investigating lost iPhone prototype issue
by Priyanka - April 24, 2010 - comments
Gizmodo’s editorial director, Brian Lam, on Tuesday said in a statement that they found out much later that the prototype was not lost but was stolen from Apple.
The Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) of Santa Clara County district attorney’s office to look into the incident, involving the fourth-generation iPhone prototype purchased by tech blog site Gizmodo, according to a report by published by CNET News on Friday.
On Monday, Gizmodo.com went public with the images of Apple’s supposed new iPhone offering in the making on its site where it also reported some of the features of the new iPhone.
According to CNET, Apple is working with REACT to determine if criminal charges could be filed.
However, the news site said that they do not know “whether the investigation is targeting Gizmodo.com, its source who reportedly found the iPhone in a bar, or both."
REACT is a special task force that investigates high tech crimes related to property theft and trademark violations etc, in the Silicon Valley.
Gizmodo’s side of story
Talking about howApple’s iPhone prototype landed in its hands, Gizmodo said that a person found the device on the stool of the Redwood City bar in California, where Apple’s engineer Gray Powell reportedly forgot the prototype.
Gizmodo said that this person before selling the iPhone prototype to Gizmodo for $5,000, tried to contact someone at Apple so the prototype can be returned.
However, CNET said that they do not know “whether the investigation is targeting Gizmodo.com, its source who reportedly found the iPhone in a bar, or both."
Gizmodo’s editorial director, Brian Lam, on Tuesday said in a statement that they found out much later that the prototype was not lost but was stolen from Apple.
Lam wrote in his blog, "Just so you know, we didn't know this was stolen when we bought it."
He added further that after getting request from Apple’s top lawyers they have returned the prototype and so far “haven’t been contacted by law enforcement” in regards to the incident.
Law related to lost property
Market analysts are keeping close watch on how Apple will proceed are debating which law applies to this incident.
One law that could apply is a California law, dating back to 1872, that states anyone who keeps someone else’s property even after knowing who it belongs to is guilty of theft and if the value of the property is over $400 then grand theft charges can be filed against the guilty.
“The finder may have broken the law. The law of theft isn’t ‘finders, keepers.’ If you know that something has just been mislaid, you can take it and return it, but you can’t take it and keep it, or sell it,” according to Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University Law School, Detroit.“