Originally Posted by
Turnup
The letter you have, while providing some comfort, is unfortunately only an opinion and not binding on anyone. It is also entirely possible that since 1998 those opinions have changed. I think it will take a court case to resolve this.
I presume that NYP cannot simply seize these items and retain them in the long term, they can only seize them as evidence of a possible crime. Therefore they must either prosecute the alleged offence or return them to their rightful owners.