After a year of deliberation, the Gizmodo iPhone 4 case has officially come to a close. The San Mateo District Attorney’s office has officially decided that they will not be pressing charges against Jason Chen, Gizmodo, or Gawker Media for buying a “stolen” iPhone 4 prototype.
I’m sure you all remember the big hoopla about this last year – Gray Powell supposedly left a prototype iPhone 4 on a bar stool, which was then picked up and sold to Gawker Media, who displayed its full glory as a headline on Gizmodo.
The DA’s office has apparently decided that the case against Jason Chen simply wasn’t strong enough for them to pursue in court, as is reflected by an official statement they offered on the matter:
After a consideration of all of the evidence, it was determined that no charges would be filed against employees of Gizmodo.
Further, despite not actually being exonerated of any wrong-doing, Gawker (Gizmodo’s parent company) is seeing this as a victory, and has offered the following statement:
We are pleased that the District Attorney of San Mateo County, Steven Wagstaffe, has decided, upon review of all of the evidence, that no crime was committed by the Gizmodo team in relation to its reporting on the iPhone 4 prototype last year. While we have always believed that we were acting fully within the law, it has inevitably been stressful for the editor concerned, Jason Chen, and we are glad that we can finally put this matter behind us.
Further, it should be noted that while Jason Chen and Gizmodo are now free from the long arm of the law, Apple still holds them on their “official” company bad list, which I’m sure is written in the blood of the poor folks who couldn’t pay their iTunes bills. For those that don’t fully recall the story, here’s a link to Gizmodo’s article from last year. The full official statement from the San Mateo DA’s office follows:
