Christie's has decided to "temporarily" not to charge its customers the right to succeed

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AFP 15.01.2010

Pending a court decision the French section of the auction house Christie's has decided to "temporarily" not to charge its customers the right to succeed to the works of art and return to the "French tradition" for which resale royalty is charged to the seller.

Right to Succeed - is one of copyright, which lies in the fact that at each subsequent resale of works of art seller pays its author, or within 70 years after his death, his successor a certain amount.

As explained by the representatives of the French branch of the auction house Christie's, in 2008 they decided that it was entitled to be paid to the buyers, "to encourage more collectors to sell works of art belonging to them in France," and thus "allow Paris to become a major center of art market."

But the antique dealers and gallery owners were very unhappy with this decision.

Several days ago the Professional Board of art galleries, announced that he filed for the French section of the auction house Christie's claim to a higher court for "unfair competition" and "abuse of dominant position".

«Christie's - the only auction house in France, which collects the right to succeed with customers, and this creates unfair competition, since it is obvious that any seller would prefer to Christie's for this reason" - told us gallerist Patrick Bonzhe, president of the committee.

In July last year, the National Syndicate of Antiquaries has already filed a lawsuit at Christie's for its practices in respect of the right route.

National Syndicate of Antiquaries and appealed to the Board of auction houses, which recently handed down its decision, it states: "The legality of actions Christie's is not in question. That decision, however pointed out that Christie's has no right to compel customers to pay resale royalty, if they do not want to.

"In anticipation of court decisions and Toba avoid discrimination among buyers who do not want to pay the right route, and those who agree to that, the French Branch of Christie's has decided to temporarily return to French tradition, which is paid by the seller the right to follow a work of art" - declared the representative of Christie's .

The auction house said that by seeking the opinion of the European Commission, Office of the Ministry of Justice sent a letter, which stated that "the issue of paying the right route can be resolved at the discretion of the company, carrying out auction of works of art."