Nokia Sends In Cops for N8 Prototype from Eldar Murtazin
This may seem somewhat heavy handed and probably something one would expect from the likes of Apple but this time it is Nokia who have called in the law over a prototype device, namely the Nokia N8 loaned to Mobile-review editor Eldar Murtazin.
According to an article over on Daily Mobile and by way of a Goole translation of Eldar Murtazin’s live journal, Nokia asked for their prototype of the Nokia N8 to be returned and apparently Murtazin refused, although Murtazin has denied any knowledge of Nokia asking for the device to be returned.
The upshot of this is that Nokia has sent in Russian police to raid the Mobile-review office, which does seem a bit on the drastic side if you ask me; perhaps Nokia is looking for an “Apple/Gizmodo” style scandal with their heavy handed attempt.
Maybe Eldar Murtazin has got up Nokia’s mobile nose with his harsh review of the Nokia N8, but there really isn’t any need to send a task force in to raid the office just over a prototype handset that has been mostly leaked to the internet already.
So readers, what are your thought on this, is Nokia right in sending in the cops, or should that have found a more less public way of regaining their Nokia N8 prototype.
Comments
One thought on “Nokia Sends In Cops for N8 Prototype from Eldar Murtazin”
I think, some things should be cleared. For a foreigner, it is quite hard to judge on the situation, but I am russian, and I have been reading Murtazins site for 5 years. I have a much wider judgment on this issue, being able to read both the articles on the official Mobile-Review site and his blog. Also there are lots of alternative opinions here in Russia, based on richer info about Murtazin's activity.
There is one more thing, that makes my judgment more relevant. I am a layer in Russia, so I can provide some info about the legal situation.
Let's get to the facts:
1) Murtazin tells us that Nokia is spreading false info. Currently he is appealing to the fact, that Nokia calls him a blogger. Actually according to russian law it is correct, because mobile-review.com is not registered as a source of mass information. According to russian laws, only a person working for a source of mass information can appeal to a journalist's status. Without being employed in a source of mass information, being a member of a journalists society he is still just a blogger. His site in legal terms is just a personal web page. This means that he cannot legally protect his sources.
2) Nokia has requested to start a criminal investigation against Murtazin. This means, that summarizing the definition of the criminal act is a job for legal authorities. Nokia has just put a request on that. He is being accused of violating the Criminal Code of Russia, specifically in breaking the law prohibiting collection of private corporate information which is classified as trade secrets.
3) His contacts with his informant on learning info about N8 is illegal, because he was well informed about the status of the info classified as trade secret. Reproduction of this info to the audience is illegal, as it was well known to Murtazin, that it consisted a trade secret. Murtazin received prototypes of Nokia legally before, so he was well informed, that any info about them is a trade secret.
4) His conclussions were actually misleading even analyzing the prototype. He made such things before – a while ago he was bashing Sony Ericsson X10 in his blog, but it wasn't reproduced massively to the wide audience. Actual work of the final product was quite fine, despite his criticism
5) The problem that he is not a journalist according to russian law, as I commented, so there is no actual connection between him and journalists ethics.
6) It is hard to judge, if he is a Samsung consultant, but the massive amount of ads for them on his site, shows that he is valuable partner for them.
7) As Nokia N8 is being given to some people through legal procedures, and with abiding Non disclosure agreements according to russian law it is illegal for a person to give away trade secrets, if a person was informed or was able to understand, that the info is a trade secret. Murtazin told us many times, that he is perfectly informed about security measures about prototypes.
8) Murtazin lies about relations with Nokia corp. His relations got worse, when he didn't receive a contract with Nokia to support LiveJournal society of Nokia in russian web. Since then he completely changed his policy about Nokia, bashing it hard. Almost the same happened with SE before – same bashing of products all the way, but with less world spreading.
9) Nokia didn't put revenge on Murtazin – he just violated russian laws on trade secrets in Nokia's opinion, so they are rightful to protect their trade secrets legally. Murtazin would probably be sentenced to a fine, which is not such a hard punishment. But as it a violation of Criminal Code he would become a criminal, which would give him a bad reputation
10) He is spreading an info which can easily be considered as a effort to mislead the investigation.
11) Some bloggers in Russia, being outraged by Murtzin's constant lies are gathering valuable inf on this story