Legal Cases

In ATG No 2062 dated 20 October 2012, we published an article entitled “Court Orders in Partridge Case reveal extent of Amor trio’s defeat”.

Two men have been sentenced to a year in jail after admitting the theft of a sundial sculpture and bronze plinth from the Henry Moore Foundation.

A recent court case in New York has reinforced the importance of the often overlooked issue of artists’ moral rights.

Christie’s have won a High Court bid in Hong Kong to prevent another auction house benefiting from using a name that was sufficiently close to theirs to cause confusion.

The High Court has issued an order freezing $15m of assets belonging to art collector Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani.

The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association is taking the fight to forgers after one of its members was instrumental in bringing serial forger Allan Formhals to justice.

The High Court has reserved judgment on whether to continue freezing the assets of a Qatari sheikh accused of being a serial defaulter on debts run up at auction.

Christie’s have joined auctioneers William J. Jenack in a bid to overturn a legal ruling that says New York salerooms must reveal consignors’ names to buyers.

Three men charged in connection with a series of burglaries involving auction houses in the South of England will appear at crown court in January.

Malcolm Hay, the dealer controversially convicted by an Athens court of trading in illegally excavated antiquities, has learnt that the hearing of the appeal he lodged in March 2011 has been delayed until February 1, 2013 owing to disruption caused by strikes in Greece.

Three men have been jailed for a total of 18 years for their involvement in the theft of Chinese artefacts from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Two men have been jailed for a string of burglaries across the South East which included taking a rhino head from Haslemere Museum in Surrey.

Several items stolen from Derby Museum and Art Gallery’s storage facility have been recovered and two arrests have been made.

Two men have been charged with theft after Henry Moore’s ‘Working Model for Sundial 1965’ sculpture and a bronze plinth were stolen from his former home.

Four suspected thieves were due to appear in court in connection with a series of burglaries at six auction houses in the south of England last year.

A federal judge has declared the 1977 California Resale Royalty Act unconstitutional.

The English Supreme Court has ruled that expert witnesses will no longer enjoy immunity from civil lawsuits when giving evidence in either civil or criminal legal proceedings.

Comment: Nicholas Somers, FNAVA. FRSA.

One of the UK’s most prolific and accomplished art fraudsters has been jailed for two years after admitting he created up to 1000 forgeries.

Two suspects have been charged in connection with the theft of 18 Chinese hardstone carvings worth millions of pounds from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on April 13.