Legal Cases

EBAY have vowed to fight a new French court ruling that effectively makes them responsible for what is sold on their site. In effect, the ruling could mean them having to vet items before they are offered, rather than removing offending objects once they have been alerted to them.

A Kent dealer has received a two-year suspended sentence following a three-year international operation into ivory and whale-tooth smuggling. The case is the latest under Operation Charm, an ongoing campaign against the illegal trade in endangered species in London.

A FRENCH court has ruled for the first time that eBay are directly responsible for what is sold on their website.

THE battle over Antiquorum, the world’s leading clock and watch auction house, has stepped up a gear, with significant moves from both sides.

After weeks of legal wrangling, permission has finally been granted to sell property from the bankrupt Manhattan Old Master dealership Salander-O'Reilly Gallery.

Three Europeans and four Americans have been charged following the breaking of two international rings involved in the manufacture and distribution of fake 20th century prints.

The Art Loss Register (ALR) have defended their decision to mislead Kent dealer Michael Marks in the Souza paintings case after members of the trade expressed strong concern at the agency’s actions.

A DEALER has had to hand over £300,000 worth of paintings after a judge ruled that his records were not sufficient to show he had acquired them in good faith. He is also facing what is anticipated to be a six-figure bill for costs.

A DISTRICT court judge has dismissed a claim made against Holloway’s auctioneers regarding the condition report on an early wine bottle.

Widespread concern over warrants that can ignore human rights

A JUDGE’S ruling over an antique steel knife has challenged the policy of “Let the Buyer Beware” and may affect auctioneers’ cataloguing practices and their terms and conditions.

A dealer who agreed a price for a table and then resold it to another party at a higher sum has been told by a judge to pay compensation to his original buyer.

The last privately owned copy of Magna Carta will remain in the USA after its $19m (£9.8m) purchase by billionaire David Rubenstein.

Bonhams are being sued in a case that could have a significant impact on contracts between vendors and auction houses.

Lawrence B. Salander, the embattled Manhattan art dealer, has filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy protection citing debts of between $50m and $100m.

A private San Francisco bank has emerged as one of the largest creditors of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries.

New York Old Master dealers Salander-O’Reilly are expected to file for bankruptcy after a state judge ordered their gallery to be closed indefinitely.

£10,000 reward put up as police reveal that painting could hold the key to unsolved mystery

FOUR men, including two lawyers, arrested in a police raid in Glasgow to recover the Leonardo da Vinci stolen from Drumlanrig Castle, have now been charged in a Scottish court.

Antiquorum, the world’s leading watch auctioneers, insist it will be “business as usual” following the shock departure this August of the Geneva firm’s charismatic founder, Osvaldo Patrizzi, after a row with Japanese owners Artist House Holdings, who acquired Antiquorum for a reported $30m in 2006.