SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Park West Gallery, one of the world's largest art dealers, is defending itself forcefully against a campaign of defamation and business interference waged by the website Fine Art Registry (FAR). Responding to a lawsuit filed earlier this year in Oakland County Circuit Court by Park West customers recruited by FAR, the 40-year-old Southfield-based gallery has filed a counterclaim charging defamation, tortuous interference and civil conspiracy. In addition, Robert E. Goldman, one of the most respected art legal experts in the world, has joined Park West's legal team.
PARK WEST SEEKS INJUCTION AND DAMAGES
Park West Gallery's counterclaim names five plaintiffs from the earlier suit along with a third-party complaint against FAR, its founder Theresa Franks, and Frank Hunter, operator of another art website. Park West Gallery is charging the parties with:
-- Publishing numerous false and defamatory statements about Park West
-- Attempting to destroy Park West's goodwill and reputation by use of
false and defamatory statements
-- Interfering with existing contractual relationships between Park
West and its customers, and
-- Interfering with Park West's prospective business opportunities.
Park West is seeking a permanent injunction against these individuals and FAR along with actual and punitive damages.
INTERNATIONAL ART LAW EXPERT JOINS PARK WEST DEFENSE
Park West Gallery also announced that art legal expert Robert Goldman has joined its legal defense team, assisting the Southfield-based law firm Young & Susser. "I am proud to represent Park West Gallery in this important legal battle, the outcome of which will be important to the entire art industry," said Goldman. "If reckless individuals and organizations are permitted to falsely attack the hard-earned reputations of legitimate art dealers without consequence, the art market, including artists, auction houses, museums, dealers and collectors, will suffer irreparable harm. I look forward to highlighting the truth and righting this wrong in the courts."
Goldman served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 19 years, during which time he focused on matters involving international art theft and museum theft. He was also Special Trial Attorney, appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to counsel and assist the newly created FBI National Art Crime Team, which battles international art theft, antiquities smuggling, and fraud in the art collecting industry. With the FBI, Goldman was involved in the recovery of more than $150 million of stolen art and cultural property.
"In the fall of 2008, Albert Scaglione invited me in to examine the company's people, policies, operations and collection," said Goldman. "There were no boundaries or barriers to my study, and I have developed a deep respect for and trust in this extraordinary organization of honest, hard- working professionals. Based on my first-hand observations and decades of art law experience, I am delighted to be joining their legal team."
PARK WEST DEFENDS 40-YEAR REPUTATION
"Over the last 40 years we have served more than 1.2 million satisfied clients through our gallery sales as well as our land and sea auctions," said Albert Scaglione, chief executive officer and founder of Park West Gallery. "Our reputation is dear to us and we stand behind the authenticity of everything we sell, including the works of art involved in the meritless lawsuits brought by FAR. We welcome Bob Goldman, who is one of the most accomplished art legal experts in the world, to our team and are confident that we will prevail in the legal actions we have initiated against FAR as well as the baseless suits they have brought against us."
Park West Gallery's 40/40/40 Customer Satisfaction Guarantee is the most generous and comprehensive in the art industry, giving customers the opportunity to return purchased items for refund (excluding buyer's premium and shipping costs) for up to 40 days after delivery, and the right to exchange any work for another in the Park West collection for up to 40 months.
More than 90 % of the artworks sold by Park West have been created by living artists with long-standing relationships with the gallery. These internationally acclaimed artists include Yaacov Agam, Simon Bull, Alfred Gockel, Scott Jacobs, Thomas Kinkade, Anatole Krasnyansky, Linda Le Kinff, Csaba Markus, Peter Max, Itzchak Tarkay, and David Willardson, as well as Detroit favorites Marcus Glenn and Dominic Pangborn. Responding to FAR's defamation, Tarkay remarked, "I believe so much in Park West that I have entrusted the company with my intellectual property and copyrights for more than a decade, and they have tirelessly and with great expense, defended my work against counterfeiters and others who have attempted to illegally gain through my success."
BACKGROUND ON FAR DEFAMATION CAMPAIGN
As Park West's counterclaim states, FAR's defamatory attacks began in 2007 shortly after the gallery rejected a business offer from the start-up website's management. Recognizing the potential profit from Park West's clients -- the gallery sells hundreds of thousands of works each year -- FAR approached Park West to buy the website's art registry services. For an annual membership fee of $9.95 and $2.25 per registered work, FAR simply lists an artwork on its site without examining the actual work, researching its authenticity or guaranteeing the website's future existence. Park West saw no value to its customers in spending well in excess of $1 million per year for FAR's service, and passed on FAR's solicitation.
FAR's defamation began soon after, forcing the gallery in April 2008 to take its initial legal action in Michigan and Florida against FAR. While those suits progress through the courts, FAR has continued its online attacks and sponsored unsuccessful legal challenges in a number of states. A FAR- sponsored suit similar to the one filed in Michigan this year was dismissed in California in December 2008. Park West is seeking reimbursement for legal fees in that case.
ABOUT PARK WEST GALLERY
Founded in 1969, Park West Gallery conducts art auctions at locations throughout the world, as well as on 85 cruise ships operated by the Carnival, Celebrity, Disney, Holland America, Norwegian, Oceania, Regent Seven Seas and Royal Caribbean cruise lines. The Park West Gallery collection includes oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors and drawings, hand-signed limited edition etchings, lithographs, serigraphs, and hand-embellished graphic works, as well as animation art and selected sports memorabilia. Park West Gallery occupies a 63,000 square foot headquarters and gallery in Southfield, Michigan and an 181,000 square foot fulfillment center and gallery in Miami Lakes, Florida.
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