In my case - all items they "ask" back were purchased only from Outback and only in January 2018.
Somebody, who's not as lazy as me, probably can go through eBay's history and enumerate all the things Outback sold around that time.
Further, it may well be that the equipment involved is not special in any way, nor was used for any super secret stuff - but that it was used by an organisation that does get into such work and has a blanket policy for decommissioned equipment to make sure there is NO way for ANY device to legitimately find its way out into the public arena. If there were to be any exceptions made to such a rule, then the security would have a hole in it you could driver a Hummer through.
Just curious how Keysight wants to compensate the current owners.
Does they offer a functionally equivalent instrument, or are they talking about reimbursing the auction money payed by the buyer?
I have a friend who purchased a used car here in the USA. The car was purpose built and there is no title or VIN. After paying for the car and owning it for some time, the police show up. It turns out, the car was stolen some time ago and they had been tracking it.
The actual owner did not pay out everyone who had owned the car. Just the opposite. He unknowingly bought a stolen car and was out the money he had spent on it. I am not sure if he tried to recover his funds. Doubt it would have been worth the cost and time.
I have a friend who purchased a used car here in the USA. The car was purpose built and there is no title or VIN. After paying for the car and owning it for some time, the police show up. It turns out, the car was stolen some time ago and they had been tracking it.
The actual owner did not pay out everyone who had owned the car. Just the opposite. He unknowingly bought a stolen car and was out the money he had spent on it. I am not sure if he tried to recover his funds. Doubt it would have been worth the cost and time.
Another interesting approach might be to relist the gear on ebay and invite KS to bid on it.
Get a friend to bid against them to see how badly they want it.
I have a friend who purchased a used car here in the USA. The car was purpose built and there is no title or VIN. After paying for the car and owning it for some time, the police show up. It turns out, the car was stolen some time ago and they had been tracking it.
The actual owner did not pay out everyone who had owned the car. Just the opposite. He unknowingly bought a stolen car and was out the money he had spent on it. I am not sure if he tried to recover his funds. Doubt it would have been worth the cost and time.Cars are a little different though; there are official title documents that change hands with them that prove ownership and a clear title. If there's no title it needs to be established before a motor vehicle can be sold (for example a salvage title). At least in CA the certificate of title document has a section to mail in to register any change of title when sold. On destruction, like you scrap it, you likewise mail it in to let the DMV know so they can mark it as such. If you have a lien on the car the CA DMV won't provide a title document until the lien is removed (for example a loan paid off, or traffic fines paid) to explicitly prevent you from selling it.
Buying a vehicle without proof of clean title... that's a self-inflicted problem. Don't ever do that!
This is also why stolen cars are chopped and sold for parts; it's almost impossible to sell a stolen car.
I have a friend who purchased a used car here in the USA. The car was purpose built and there is no title or VIN. After paying for the car and owning it for some time, the police show up. It turns out, the car was stolen some time ago and they had been tracking it.
The actual owner did not pay out everyone who had owned the car. Just the opposite. He unknowingly bought a stolen car and was out the money he had spent on it. I am not sure if he tried to recover his funds. Doubt it would have been worth the cost and time.Cars are a little different though; there are official title documents that change hands with them that prove ownership and a clear title. If there's no title it needs to be established before a motor vehicle can be sold (for example a salvage title). At least in CA the certificate of title document has a section to mail in to register any change of title when sold. On destruction, like you scrap it, you likewise mail it in to let the DMV know so they can mark it as such. If you have a lien on the car the CA DMV won't provide a title document until the lien is removed (for example a loan paid off, or traffic fines paid) to explicitly prevent you from selling it.
Buying a vehicle without proof of clean title... that's a self-inflicted problem. Don't ever do that!
This is also why stolen cars are chopped and sold for parts; it's almost impossible to sell a stolen car.It's common to scratch build purpose built cars (and motorcycles) for racing. Custom built cars like these are not driven normally on public roads and have no VIN or title. Have a look to get a better idea:
http://www.carvermuseum.org/drag-car-frame/
It probably varies from state to state, and I don't know how many hoops you have to jump through, but at least in my area you can get titles and registration for a purpose built car. There are probably certain requirements for being roadworthy and safe and having required things like turn signals.
May be it is not a conspiracy and they just want the old HP instruments for a new museum.
Did not one of their old buildings burned down in the California fires last year?
Reimbursing the auction money would suck, if you bought the equipment defective (cheap), then repaired it. Which was the case in both scopes that I purchased.
I occasionally go to a local monthly summer car show and a couple times there was a guy there with a car he called the "hot rod manure spreader." He basically put an engine from a Grand Prix in the back, a seat in the middle, and a sawed off section of dash board in the front. He had a registration card on display that said 'Make: Hand Built" and "Model: Hot Rod Manure Spreader."
Custom built cars like these are not driven normally on public roads and have no VIN or title.
In case anyone is wondering, I have experienced a similar case first hand.
I legitmately purchased a COTS thermal camera via eBay.
It was modern so I followed my usual process of contacting the manufacturer to check that it was not registered stolen...... it wasn’t. End of story normally, but not this time.
The US OEM asked the UK agent to make contact with me. When I received an email asking me to ‘discus’ my camera with the UK Agent I knew trouble was headed my way
I phoned the chap in the UK.
Without going into too much detail I had a very special thermal camera in my possession. It was not for public release as it contained special firmware that gave it enhanced capabilities. The UK agent made it clear that someone had made a huge mistake selling the camera and he needed to recover it if possible. I was not threatened in any way but I knew the camera was Sold without the OEM’s authority, so could be deemed still the property of the OEM. My strong moral compass lead to the camera being collected from me in person by the UK Agent the next day.
Would I have been pursued if I had refused to co-operate ? Likely not. But I could not be certain and I was, in effect, in possession of a camera that had serious restrictions on its ownership. Morally I did not feel I could keep it.
Did I get compensated ? Yes, the UK agent paid me what the camera owed me, including the cost of some accessories that I had purchased, but no more. Was I disappointed with that, in truth yes. The camera had a very high market value in standard form and this unit was a very special, more capable type.
I miss owning that camera but my conscience is clear and I moved on from those events. No one can ever accuse me of owning a camera that is not legitimately my property and I am content with that situation
Fraser
Custom built cars like these are not driven normally on public roads and have no VIN or title.An interesting and related point: You do not require a driver's license, nor a vehicle license, to operate a motor vehicle on private property. If you don't drive on the public roads, you absolutely do not require a driver's license.
...
I wonder what would happen if you showed up with a trailer and declined the license plates, since you then have a means by which to depart with the new car without operating it on public roads. I know, I know, sometimes I'm a rabble rouser.
I would have advised the new owner of the equipment that a human error had occurred and the equipment was not supposed to have been sold. I would state that recovery of the equipment was desired on a voluntary basis and that the owner would be compensated with either the full purchase cost plus additional compensation, to be discussed, or equivalent equipment.
Such a letter would be phase 1 of the recovery process and would likely sit well with most buyers. For those owners unwilling to respond in a positive manner, a second, phase 2 letter would be drafted that detailed the legal situation concerning the equipments recovery and a request to accept the terms of ten first letter to avoid any legal escalation.
For the hard core owners who steadfastly refuse to return the equipment under any circumstances a third, phase 3, letter could be drafted with input from the legal team to detail the way forwards from the companies perspective, be that legal of further negotiations.
Equipment recovery requires a gentle and friendly approach that only ‘hardens’ to legal comment for those who need such ‘encouragement’ . Whether a company chooses to go to stage 3 very much depends upon the seriousness of the situation.