N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 13.01 – Express warranties
§ 13.01. Express warranties. Notwithstanding any provision of any other law to the contrary:
Terms Used In N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 13.01
- art merchant: includes an auctioneer who sells such works at public auction, and except in the case of multiples, includes persons, not otherwise defined or treated as art merchants herein, who are consignors or principals of auctioneers. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
- authorship: refers to the creator of a work of fine art or multiple or to the period, culture, source or origin, as the case may be, with which the creation of such work is identified in the description of the work. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
- Certificate of authenticity: means a written statement by an art merchant confirming, approving or attesting to the authorship of a work of fine art or multiple, which is capable of being used to the advantage or disadvantage of some person. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
- Counterfeit: means a work of fine art or multiple made, altered or copied, with or without intent to deceive, in such manner that it appears or is claimed to have an authorship which it does not in fact possess. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fine art: means a painting, sculpture, drawing, or work of graphic art, and print, but not multiples. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
- Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. Source: OCC
- Written instrument: means a written or printed agreement, bill of sale, invoice, certificate of authenticity, catalogue or any other written or printed note or memorandum or label describing the work of fine art or multiple which is to be sold, exchanged or consigned by an art merchant. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 11.01
1. Whenever an art merchant, in selling or exchanging a work of fine art, furnishes to a buyer of such work who is not an art merchant a certificate of authenticity or any similar written instrument it:
(a) Shall be presumed to be part of the basis of the bargain; and
(b) Shall create an express warranty for the material facts stated as of the date of such sale or exchange.
2. Except as provided in subdivision four of this section, such warranty shall not be negated or limited provided that in construing the degree of warranty, due regard shall be given the terminology used and the meaning accorded such terminology by the customs and usage of the trade at the time and in the locality where the sale or exchange took place.
3. Language used in a certificate of authenticity or similar written instrument, stating that:
(a) The work is by a named author or has a named authorship, without any limiting words, means unequivocally, that the work is by such named author or has such named authorship;
(b) The work is "attributed to a named author" means a work of the period of the author, attributed to him, but not with certainty by him; or
(c) The work is of the "school of a named author" means a work of the period of the author, by a pupil or close follower of the author, but not by the author.
4. (a) An express warranty and disclaimers intended to negate or limit such warranty shall be construed wherever reasonable as consistent with each other but subject to the provisions of section 2-202 of the uniform commercial code on parol or extrinsic evidence, negation or limitation is inoperative to the extent that such construction is unreasonable.
(b) Such negation or limitation shall be deemed unreasonable if:
(i) the disclaimer is not conspicuous, written and apart from the warranty, in words which clearly and specifically apprise the buyer that the seller assumes no risk, liability or responsibility for the material facts stated concerning such work of fine art. Words of general disclaimer are not sufficient to negate or limit an express warranty; or
(ii) the work of fine art is proved to be a counterfeit and this was not clearly indicated in the description of the work; or
(iii) the information provided is proved to be, as of the date of sale or exchange, false, mistaken or erroneous.