From Newsgroup: comp.misc

Sega accidentally threw out some proprietary Nintendo game-development
hardware and prototype games, and then, realizing what they’d done
about three months later, called on police to arrest the person who
bought them <https://www.theverge.com/news/776260/sega-police-raid-nintendo-dev-kits>.

The police did eventually release him, but then tried to get him to
sign a “formal disclaimer request” giving up ownership of the items he
had legitimately bought, which he refused to do. If they really were
stolen goods, the cops could have seized them without needing his
agreement.

Meanwhile, the cops are still holding on to the items.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

On 12/09/2025 00:12, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Sega accidentally threw out some proprietary Nintendo game-development hardware and prototype games, and then, realizing what they’d done
about three months later, called on police to arrest the person who
bought them <https://www.theverge.com/news/776260/sega-police-raid-nintendo-dev-kits>.

The police did eventually release him, but then tried to get him to
sign a “formal disclaimer request” giving up ownership of the items he had legitimately bought, which he refused to do. If they really were
stolen goods, the cops could have seized them without needing his
agreement.

Meanwhile, the cops are still holding on to the items.

The police are there to uphold the law and often get put into impossible positions. If Sega lied to the police about these items then they need
to be prosecuted. It will reduce the chance of more companies doing similar.

There's a term in English Law "Wilful abandonment" which I think covers throwing stuff out in error and someone taking ownership of it. The
story published, which may not be the whole truth or accurate, sounds
like Sega dropped a bollock and rather than getting in touch with the
guy and coming to an arrangement which would have cost them money but
earned them good PR with their community, have gone at it both barrels blazing.

If the the new owner doesn't get the items back he should sue the police.

But there may be more to the story than has been published.
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

On 12/09/2025 09:20, mm0fmf wrote:

On 12/09/2025 00:12, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

Sega accidentally threw out some proprietary Nintendo game-development
hardware and prototype games, and then, realizing what they’d done
about three months later, called on police to arrest the person who
bought them
<https://www.theverge.com/news/776260/sega-police-raid-nintendo-dev-
kits>.

The police did eventually release him, but then tried to get him to
sign a “formal disclaimer request” giving up ownership of the items he >> had legitimately bought, which he refused to do. If they really were
stolen goods, the cops could have seized them without needing his
agreement.

Meanwhile, the cops are still holding on to the items.

The police are there to uphold the law and often get put into impossible positions. If Sega lied to the police about these items then they need
to be prosecuted. It will reduce the chance of more companies doing
similar.

There's a term in English Law "Wilful abandonment" which I think covers throwing stuff out in error  and someone taking ownership of it. The
story published, which may not be the whole truth or accurate, sounds
like Sega dropped a bollock and rather than getting in touch with the
guy and coming to an arrangement which would have cost them money but
earned them  good PR with their community, have gone at it both barrels blazing.

If the the new owner doesn't get the items back he should sue the police.

But there may be more to the story than has been published.

I suspect the "more to this story bit" will be that Sega paid for the
consoles to be scrapped and they weren't.

What smells fishy is how the person arrested just happened to know when
and where to meet the van.
--
Bruce Horrocks
Hampshire, England
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

Bruce <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

On 12/09/2025 09:20, mm0fmf wrote:

But there may be more to the story than has been published.

I suspect the "more to this story bit" will be that Sega paid for the consoles to be scrapped and they weren't.

What smells fishy is how the person arrested just happened to know when
and where to meet the van.

I read it that the van went to the scrapyard, then the person
arrested bought the stuff from the scrapyard separately.

But "under arrest for money laundering" is what got me. If that's
the case then presumably the stuff isn't really from Sega's old
offices, but part of some plan to fake the resale of pretend
development kits at a huge profit. That's assuming Sega themselves
never really got the cops involved, since the article says Sega
didn't reply to a request for comment so it's not confirmed.
--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#
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From Newsgroup: comp.misc

On 15 Sep 2025 08:35:04 +1000, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

But "under arrest for money laundering" is what got me. If that's
the case then presumably the stuff isn't really from Sega's old
offices, but part of some plan to fake the resale of pretend
development kits at a huge profit. That's assuming Sega themselves
never really got the cops involved, since the article says Sega
didn't reply to a request for comment so it's not confirmed.

Money laundering would involve the seizure of the money involved, but that doesn’t seem to have happened here.

The cops trying to get the guy to formally give up ownership of the goods involved doesn’t make sense from any viewpoint, whether money laundering
is involved or not. It smells too much like trying to get Sega off the
hook for making a false claim.

The company refusing to respond to reporters’ questions is all too common when they’ve been caught trying to pull a fast one under the guise of “intellectual property rights” ...
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