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California Governor Brown signs fake autograph bill

Not much in the way of details thus far, but Governor Brown has signed a bill cracking down on the sale of fake autographs.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-poli...

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on September 9, 2016 at 6:07pm

Mark Hamill is rapidly becoming my favorite celebrity! His involvement made the difference.

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Permalink Reply by TradeGeek on September 12, 2016 at 1:50pm

It will be interesting to see if this makes a difference. This law is potentially quite powerful. The core is not criminal penalties (which we all know won't be enforced) but Civil. The civil penalties are significant. 10X damages plus court/legal fees if the information provided on a COA is found to be inaccurate or fraudulent. It does not require that a litigant prove the autograph is fake.

A dealer is required to state if the autograph was signed in his/her presents, or provide the name and address of who witnessed the signing or provide the name and address of the party from whom the dealer acquired the autograph. The potential value here is that it requires whomever issues a COA to back up the story behind where the autograph came from. If the story is complete BS, that dealer may be required to respond to a lawsuit where they have to provide documentation to backup the info on their COA.

All this is dependent on how the courts interpret the law. But it has some potential benefits. Taking a dealer to court over a forgery typically requires that one prove the autograph is fake. This typically results in each side producing an expert opinion contrary to the other side's expert opinion. In the case of the new law, a plaintiff can recover 10x damages if the COA has information that is incorrect, missing or fraudulent. That removes much of the legal issues from the world of "opinion". Either the dealer has evidence he/she was at the place at the time they claim the item was signed or they don't. Or, they may be required to produce evidence that supports where and from whom they acquired the autograph. I can see many many small claims actions being filed. If I can recover $2,500 because I got scammed on a $250 autograph, I'd consider filing a case.

It will be interesting to see if this has any positive impact.

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_i...