Apple WALT on Ebay

[NeXT]

Do they retain ownership of prototypes that long??

I would assume that almost any company that finds one of its prototypes in the wild can prove it is one of their unreleased products they have all the leverage they need to request it be returned. I recall there was some fear about Nintendo doing that when that prototype PlayStation surfaced.

[falter]

Sold!

Really wish ebay was honest and told us what the sale price was.

[compaqportableplus]

I would assume that almost any company that finds one of its prototypes in the wild can prove it is one of their unreleased products they have all the leverage they need to request it be returned. I recall there was some fear about Nintendo doing that when that prototype PlayStation surfaced.

I’d be really shocked if they would (or even could) do anything about a prototype that’s 20+ years old, but maybe I’m wrong. I’d think that there is a statute of limitations of some kind on stuff like that.

And besides, I’ve seen quite a few clear Apple prototypes surface, and never heard of any issue. I even heard someone that called Apple once with some questions about a clear green Color Classic and they told them something along the lines of “you are lucky to have that, as it should have never left Apple’s possession”, but they never requested that it be returned.

Either way, they’d have to put up one hell of a fight to make me “give it up” if I had it. Love the unreleased prototypes.

[falter]

I’d be really shocked if they would (or even could) do anything about a prototype that’s 20+ years old, but maybe I’m wrong. I’d think that there is a statute of limitations of some kind on stuff like that.

And besides, I’ve seen quite a few clear Apple prototypes surface, and never heard of any issue. I even heard someone that called Apple once with some questions about a clear green Color Classic and they told them something along the lines of “you are lucky to have that, as it should have never left Apple’s possession”, but they never requested that it be returned.

Either way, they’d have to put up one hell of a fight to make me “give it up” if I had it. Love the unreleased prototypes.

I'm guessing it comes down to how the prototype left the company in the first place. If it was never formally given to anyone, then technically I would guess it remains company property, and I don't think there's a statute of limitations on how long you own something. If it was spirited out against company wishes, it could even be considered theft. If it was marked to be destroyed and whoever was tasked with that didn't, and sold it, that could be fraud.

I'd assume they'd have to prove all this of course... but probably wouldn't be too hard, especially if 20 years ago was in the 1990s rather than 1959.

[Unknown_K]

I bet they have no clue how it left so they can't say it was stolen. Apple has ditched quite a bit of their historic equipment over the years probably in many different ways.

Anyway in CA:

If the theft offense is a misdemeanor offense, they have 1 year to charge you.
If the theft offense is a felony, they have 4 years to charge you.

Difference between misdemeanor and felony is the value of what was stolen.

BUT:
Receiving Stolen Property and the Statute of Limitations for Theft
Since the crime makes it illegal to possess stolen property, as long as you have the stolen property in your possession, you are still committing the crime.

So they can charge you with that forever as long as you have the stolen item.

[NeXT]

It can also vary about how public you make yourself owning it. Stuff that surfaces in museums via donation is usually stuff they'll ignore because museums typically are not in the market to be buying and selling specimens. On the other hand they get a bit more anxious when the "how much is it worth?" starts floating around. I was part of the group that published the documentation and development tools for the SGI Indy Ultra64 development unit about a decade ago and while everything was clearly marked and serialized for the licensees (so that product leaks can be tracked) Nintendo was pretty lax about it being freely distributed as it was all purely for archival purposes. We all wager that if we had tried to ask for money at any tier we would of probably received a C&D jut like anyone else who meddles with Nintendo products.