Free speech fight ends quietly in lost iPhone saga

(AP) -- A free-speech debate touched off by the lost prototype of Apple's iPhone has ended quietly with a blogger's agreement to cooperate with investigators.

A judge on Friday ordered a search warrant withdrawn and items that had been seized returned to Jason Chen of Gizmodo.com.

The technology website posted images in April of a prototype iPhone left in a Redwood City bar by an Apple employee.

Gizmodo said it paid money for the phone.

Investigators later raided Chen's house and seized computer equipment as part of its investigation into whether any laws were broken.

The website and other media organizations objected to the raid as illegal because state law prohibits the seizure of unpublished notes from journalists.

That issue was resolved Friday when Gizmodo agreed to cooperate.