Art Law Group co-chair William Charron published an article in The Art Law Review titled, "Assigning Burdens of Diligence in Authenticity Disputes." An excerpt of the article can be found below. A link to a PDF of the article can be found above. Please view the article in its originally published location via the link below.

I      INTRODUCTION

Fake and forged art are hardly new problems for the art market. As art has become more highly commoditised, however, particularly among wealthy collectors who have the means to litigate (in what can often be time-consuming and expensive processes), sales of fake and forged art have become increasingly high-stakes problems. The problem is perhaps at its zenith when a 'sophisticated' collector buys inauthentic art from a 'reputable' seller. If litigation erupts, both sides will accuse the other of having not acted reasonably to ascertain, or to more fully disclose facts concerning, the possibility of inauthentic art. This chapter discusses an emerging trend in United States law to favour the role of the sophisticated collector over that of the reputable seller in such disputes.