Buyer beware…especially on 24th century items
by Doc on Dec.23, 2009, under Television
News about fake memorabilia isn’t new, but this one seemed a bit different. A Trekkie collector purchased three items in 2006 on auction from well known auction house Christie’s – a poker visor supposedly worn by Data (Brent Spiner) ($6,000), a table from the set ($6,600), and a uniform ($11,400). When he met actor Spiner in 2007 and showed him the visor, the actor pointed out it was not authentic. The collector said that he later found that the table was also fake, and the uniform was not unique (he claims it was represented as being unique). So he filed a $7 million lawsuit. Well, a New York court has ruled against him saying is is not entitled to “the massive recovery he now demands,” and is at best entitled for refunds on the visor and table. The uniform was apparently not represented as unique by Christie’s and therefore he is not entitled to anything. Seems like his eyes got a little too large – $7m?
December 24th, 2009 on 6:41 am
Some people see lawsuits as an alternate form of the lottery. Glad to see the court had some common sense in this one.