Leaked iPhone 4 Confirmed as Real, Apple Wants Device Returned

Last week, tech site Gizmodo got its hands on what was later identified as Apple’s next-generation iPhone, also dubbed iPhone HD, and iPhone 4. It was reported that an Apple employee, Gray Powell, who (hopefully still) works on the iPhone's baseband technology, had forgotten the elusive phone on a stool at the Gourmet Haus Staudt, a Redwood City bar and restaurant that's not far from Apple's campus.

The person who found the phone reportedly waited for the owner to claim it back, but with no luck. This person would later sell the device for $5,000 to Gizmodo, after it was no longer bootable – Apple had remotely wiped it through MobileMe. The tech site posted pictures and a video featuring the phone, and confirmed it was the real thing – iPhone 4.

Then, as the story goes, Gizmodo decided it had had enough fun with the device and wanted to give it back. So, it called up Powell and told him, “We have a device, and we think that maybe you misplaced it at a bar, and we would like to give it back.” The tech site then got in touch with other people at Apple, like the company’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Bruce Sewell. The exec told Gizmodo via email, “It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is in possession of a device that belongs to Apple. This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple. Please let me know where to pick up the unit.”

The tech site emailed back saying it’d be happy to do it, outlining that it didn’t know this was a stolen device. It is now being debated whether Gizmodo is facing legal threat from Cupertino, not only because of Apple’s airtight policies, but because of something called “the California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act.”

According to AppleInsider, Section 3425.1 defines “misappropriation of trade secrets” as a civil code violation. The text makes it clear that buying a stolen prototype, determining it is authentic along with valuable information in the form of trade secrets, and then publishing the information to earn money and notoriety makes you liable to legal charges.