Artprice Vs Christie's

Last week I posted on an Artprice press release (click HERE to read the AW post).  The press release included information on a lawsuit and what Artprice called an attempt by Christie's to take over Artprice through stock manipulations.  The battle has not been reported by the Financial Times. The Financial Times has a short update, as it is only a two paragraph update, I will take the liberty to post in full.

The FT reports

Christie’s has brought a lawsuit against Artprice, accusing it of copyright and trademark infringement by reproducing its e-catalogues on the Artprice website without permission. The firm is demanding a hefty €63m in damages, a sum that was recently increased from an initial €2m. Christie’s says it is not suing other online art data firms such as Artnet because “Artprice are the only providers that are scanning and copying our catalogues wholesale”.

Artprice belongs to the flamboyant entrepreneur Thierry Ehrmann, who is fighting back. He is countersuing with three complaints including a penal action under article 465-1 of France’s financial code, accusing Christie’s of “seeking to influence his company’s share price”. He claims the battle has an underlying commercial basis, since Artprice also sells art online (the average price for a work of art sold on the site is just over €12,000). He maintains that the auction house is trying “to take control of Artprice at a lower price”.