WB Lawyers Going After Harry Potter Prop Collectors?

tardis55 said:

See Alec's comments about the Star Trek auction. Paramount could have come after _all_ of that if they wanted to, but they basically took a 'what's done is done, we aren't going to pursue it' attitude

Considering most of the stuff walked off the set by employees or studio execs THATS why that can of worms was never opened.

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I added to this conversation in March of this year with posts #28 & 30 above. Rick responded in post #29.

Did you miss those posts Mark?

Studios have found out that props are valuable items for use in theme park attractions, etc. So they don't want every Tom, Dick and Mary walking around with one. The fact that, historically, crew members and actors have taken home costumes and props and sold them later, is well known. It is difficult with the level of quality in most desirable fakes, for the studios to prove a prop or costume piece is from their actual film. I think most studios rely on the scare tactics of their lawyers to get collectors to just relinquish their items they did not knowingly purchase illegally. My advice: if someone saying they represent such-and-such studio, and say they are investigating stolen props from (film name here), tell them the prop you have is suspicious as a fake, and that you are instituting legal action against the person who sold it to you! Tell the person (or respond to a letter) saying you will require proof in the form of provenance like pictures and property/wardrobe inventory to help you in your investigation. NEVER turn the prop/costume over to anyone without written proof from the proper authorities that it is a stolen item. You are within your legal rights to do this. You are not responsible for the original "theft", even if "obtaining/keeping stolen property" is against the law. You paid good money and paid that money "in good faith" so you are not the criminal. If the Studio or original owner of the prop/costume wants to pursue the issue; let them. If they prevail in proving the goods are stolen, then surrender the items to the proper authorities and lawyer-up and go after the person/company who sold the item to you to get reimbursed for the item.

Yankee Jim said:

Authenticity is unquestionable, but the chain of custody is undocumented.
Jimmy

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I'm really new to this field. Those two clauses seem to be largely contradictory. I am honestly curious. How is authenticity established for this kind of material - in a way that truly matters if and when it is time to sell?

Getting into this a bit late, but the question I have is ....Does the Studio have a list of stolen items that has been reported to the police. Or do they just see something for sale and make the claim it was stolen? If the studios made a report to the police then collectors might have a place to check to see if the item has been reported stolen and could make the decision to buy or not.

For the most part, if it wasn't officially sold/donated/given away by the studio, they could claim that it was stolen. (So, if it doesn't have _STUDIO_ documentation showing it was sold by them, it may not be safe to publicly display/sell...)
The other exception would be a contract prop maker that is allowed to keep the items after filming (not sure how common that is).

Obviously studios use auction houses like PIH and Propstore to sell stuff too. If there's documentation of it selling in a high-profile auction, that might be good enough, but there are certain franchises you just have to be VERY careful with (Potter being one of those...)