My friend works for a local computer company. A while ago they were sub-contracted by AOL to install DSL modems for them. AOL gave them the DSL modems to install, of course. After a short while AOL cancelled the contract so they had some left over DSL modems. AOL never asked for them back and they’ve been sitting in the office for around 6 months to 1 year. Could these be considered abandonned goods? Would he legally be allowed to sell them, over does he need to try and return them?
well usually when you hand goods in to the police, after 6 months of no claims the property will legally be yours. So i’d say - sell sell sell! Thats in scotland but Im not sure if that goes for your neck of the woods!
I think they’d have to tell AOL they have the modems and give them a chance to pick them up. They should have their contracts person draft a letter to their AOL contact saying something like “After the expiration of Contract XYZ, we were left with AOL property in the form of <number> modems, model #3.14159. Please arrange to pick up this property by <date at least 30 days in the future>, at which point it will be disposed of.” I’m not a lawyer, so that ain’t legal advice, but something like that should be enough to cover your friend’s company should AOL come asking around for them 6 months from now.
IANYL (blah blah blah)
There would definitely have to be a reading of the contract (“k”) for this one. There is no general UCC provision that I can think of and this probably isn’t a sale of goods, anyway. However, the DSL modems may be defined in the k as either Confidential Information (or Proprietary Information) or as Materials. In all my dealings with AOL and every k I ever negotiated, there was always some provision where after the k was terminated the company had to certify that all Materials were destroyed or returned. Though I don’t know what the contract says, I’m willing to bet good money that such a provision exists.
If you want to think of this situation in terms of utilitarian theory, if they haven’t tracked that stuff down by now, they probably don’t want it anyway. And, it’s up to AOL to bring suit, and all that. I, of course, don’t recommend this scenario.
The safe bet is to try and return it. They should call whatever contact they have and tell them the situation they’re in. If they get a person in authority who says that they don’t want it anymore, then they’re on safe ground.
Oh, and i don’t think that “abondoned goods” applies b/c I’ve only seen it in residential tenancy situations.
Thanks, guys. I’m gonna have my friend ask his boss to call them. Theres no sense getting in trouble for a few bucks.
I wasn’t sure about that. Thank you for explaining that.