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Say I become the owner of an electronic device, like a Chromebook or iPhone, that can be locked to the current owner's account with the manufacturer (this may not be completely realistic, but take it as an assumption for this hypothetical).

Say I can definitively prove my ownership.

Say one of the previous owners refuses to release their account lock on the device. They didn't do it before they passed it on, and now they just don't feel like doing it. I contact them and ask them to relinquish their control over my device, and they admit that they no longer own it, but also refuse to release it.

Can I compel them to do it? Or can I collect damages from them for arbitrarily preventing me from using my property without good cause?

Jen
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interfect
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1 Answers1

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In general, no.

Note that there are many ways that ownership can change hands absent a sale from the original owner to the present owner: abandonment, government seizure and auction, death/inheritance, gifts, an intermediate sale, etc. So without more facts, there is no reason to assume any legal relationship between the person with the account and the new owner of the device.

Absent some contractual obligation or warranty wherein the previous owner was a seller and either:

  • they promised to deliver an device free of incumbrances; or
  • they warranted that the device was free from incumbrances; or
  • a sale-of-goods act provides an implied term of fitness for a particular use;

then a current owner has no rights against a previous owner to require them to do anything nor a remedy if they do not.

Even in the contractual case, it is unlikely specific performance of releasing the device from the old account will be ordered. Instead, the ordinary remedy is expectation damages.

Jen
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