Christie’s is to appeal last month’s French court ruling that declared Droit de Suite is a charge on the vendor rather than the buyer (ATG No 2286).
On March 24, the Court of Appeal of Versailles held that a clause in Christie’s general conditions of sales in France transferring the resale royalty from the seller to the accepting buyer infringed the French Intellectual Property Code.
A spokesperson said: “Christie’s France believes that the decisions of the court are not legally justified and has thus decided to appeal [them] before the French civil Supreme Court.” However, pending on a final decision, Christie’s “will remove the contested clause”.