Securities are a serious thing. Ethereum has been having legal problems as it's based in Ontario (IIRC) and they have very strict laws when it comes to securities, crowd funding, et al.
The law is such is that coin developers have to remain anonymous, unless it's Ripple style premine. No legal issues in selling magical coins but the law comes down hard when it resembles securities and funding.
I think you are right here! If you quack like an IPO, and waddle like an IPO ...
Doesn't matter what the fine print says, NEM took payment and will deliver tokens. If a securities regulator used a common sense approach they would *probably* argue that NEM had an IPO.
When a business displays a sign like 'all care taken but no responsibility accepted' it is meaningless. If the law says you are responsible, that's the law, and displaying a sign that says otherwise wont save you in a court of law.
UtopianFuture is better off now that he is 'retired'.