“Apple has spoken to local police about the incident and the investigation is believed to be headed by a computer crime task force led by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office, the source said,” Sandoval and McCullagh report. “Apple’s Cupertino headquarters is in Santa Clara County, about 40 miles south of San Francisco.”
“Editors at Gizmodo.com, part of Gawker Media’s blog network, said in an article posted Monday that they paid $5,000 for what they believed to be a prototype of an impending iPhone 4G,” Sandoval and McCullagh report. “The story said the phone was accidentally left at a bar in Redwood City, Calif., last month by an Apple software engineer and found by someone who contacted Gizmodo, which had previously indicated it was willing to pay significant sums for unreleased Apple products.”
“The purpose of an investigation is to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to file criminal charges,” Sandoval and McCullagh report. “Late Friday, Bloomberg reported that it spoke to Gaby Darbyshire, Gawker’s chief operating officer, and she said that law enforcement officials had not spoken with anyone at the company.”
Sandoval and McCullagh report, “Under a California law dating back to 1872, any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be but “appropriates such property to his own use” is guilty of theft. If the value of the property exceeds $400, more serious charges of grand theft can be filed. In addition, a second state law says that any person who knowingly receives property that has been obtained illegally can be imprisoned for up to one year.
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “TheConfuzed1” for the heads up.]
Here we go. This should be good to watch. Hehe
Send those ass clowns to the can!
Apple should make giz think they are going to get sued so they spend a lot of money on lawyers, then not do it.
The police are covering Apple’s butt by doing their job. No need to sue Gawker Media or the thief. No angry blogger backlash towards evil Apple.
It’s a win/win outcome no matter what the police conclude.
@ Deepdish–
Do you really think that would hurt them?
In that scenario, Gizmodo wins.
Think of all the publicity they’re getting out of this!
That has brought millions of people to their website, which is how they make money.
For that matter, on second thought, Apple wins too, for similar reasons!
Throw the thieves in jail and take all their money, as much as possible. Maybe that will make others think twice about stealing my favorite company’s secrets. While we’re rounding people up, throw everyone in Google in jail too.
My dear Apple fan friends. What would you have done? Would you have gotten in touch with Gizmodo or any of those rumor sites? Would you have turned the device in to the police or lost and found? – I think I would have contacted Apple directly. I think Apple would have been appreciative.
Gaby….how aptly named.
Gizmodo is in the wrong. You know it, I know it, and Gizmodo knows it.
“Gaby Darbyshire”
Sounds like a good name for a Hobbit, or maybe a Keebler elf. I wonder how tall she is?
I would have just e-mailed Steve and asked to return it to him in person. Not spoil the surprise for the rest of us.
Gizmodo-ing minds want to know!
Gizmodo is in wrong, probably criminally, but I really don’t think Apple should persue it. They got plenty of positive press regarding the device, but this could end up as negative press ala Goliath vs. David. My 2 cents.
Someone is going to jail
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I wonder, being such an old law, if this…
“Under a California law dating back to 1872, any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be but “appropriates such property to his own use” is guilty of theft.”
…came about from the California Gold Rush?!
@ Big Als MBP
Last time I checked, it was ONLY the police that were allowed to investigate and make arrests. And they can’t ignore a possible wrongdoing so, whether Apple prompted this or not, the police are obligated to investigate.
No matter what ends up shaking down with this whole gizmodo/iphone fiasco, Apple can NOT sue. Apple can NOT send anyone to jail. There is a lot of love out there for Apple right now. If Apple starts looking like a big evil company that is suing people for their own mistake (they did loose the stupid thing after all) the internet will have a field day bashing and painting Apple as a big evil company trying to squash poor little gizmodo. Apple is too smart to pursue this even if they are legally correct.
With all the ridiculous accusations of this whole thing being a publicity stunt staged by Apple, they may pursue this just to shut up all these conspiracy buffs once and for all. Well… all but the most stubborn and clinically insane ones.
@ evil monkey – If this iPhone prototype was in fact stolen, and Gizmodo is guilty of trafficking in stolen goods, do you think Apple is going to sit back and let that stand as an example of what rumor sites can get away with? Apple has gone after other sites for a lot less, and somehow there’s still a lot of love out there for them. So I think if they went after a rumor site which admits to paying five grand for stolen property they knew was Apple’s, you’d have a lot of folks still on Apple’s side.
Gizmodo really damaged their integrity and image. I have removed them from my bookmarks out of principle. I also refuse to click through a blog post to their site. Even if they don’t have principles, I do!
It’s a good way for Apple to let folks know not to touch goods they have not yet released.
Don’t be greedy Steve my boy… this has had a great run – just as you thought it would. Pushing it further will cross a line. What if you haven’t paid the kid enough and Giz or some other outfit buys his testimony and he spills the beans.
Oh, you’ve already got that covered – just more pub and it’s all good? Careful. Your messing with my AAPL fortune and I’m watching.
Yes, as you noticed, I’ve adopted Steve’s new spelling for you’re. Just like all things, Steve controls. Notify Webster’s – there’s a magical change in the language.
Apple does not have to get involved in this case. District Attorney and the police can take care this problem. All Apple did report the iPhone was missing. So if someone takes an item more than $400, it’s a grand theft, see california penal code 487. The guy who found the prototype iPhone and Gizmodo can be prosecuted in my opinion. Gizmodo knew that product did not belong to the seller. The guy knew the prototype iPhone and didn’t even think to give it to the authority and Gizmodo knew knew the product did not belong to that young man. So both of them have violated California law. If they decide to fight in court, that young man might spend more than $5000 to pay the lawyer (possible) and jail time for one year (county jail) if he lose. and for Gizmodo can be prosecuted for receiving stolen property and jail for one year (county jail), see California penal code 496. I hope all of them go to jail. Gizmodo thinks that they are media company. Well, they are bunch of idiots. I bet people in Gizmodo have already called their lawyer, if they have one.