SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? San Mateo County prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against a tech blogger who bought an Apple iPhone prototype after it was found at a bar in March 2010, but they did file misdemeanor charges against the men who sold it.
Prosecutor Morley Pitt on Wednesday said charges would not be filed against Gizmodo.com’s Jason Chen or other employees after concluding there was too much gray area in state law protecting journalists’ unpublished notes from seizure.
The case created a free-speech debate after Chen’s house was raided and his computer seized after Gizmodo posted images of the prototype.
However, prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges against the two men who found and sold the device, which had been left at a Redwood City bar by an Apple Inc. employee.
