Partner Eric M. George was quoted in the Daily Journal article, “Artists Accuse Auction House of Keeping Royalties.” The article discusses Mr. George’s representation of a group of artists who believe they are entitled to royalties for the resale of their artwork under the California Resale Royalty Act. Similar to practices that are established in Europe and designed to compensate artists for appreciation in the value of their art, the law requires artists to be paid a royalty of 5 percent each time a work of art is resold under certain conditions.
Mr. George explained that, “This is only partly a lawsuit designed to have royalties paid back to artists in equal measure. It’s really a lawsuit to procure a judicial declaration of what the auction houses need to do to follow the law and to meaningfully protect the rights of artists.” The proposed class of plaintiffs would include not only living artists, but also the heirs of deceased artists, whose fine art works were either sold in California or on behalf of California sellers.
