Auction item turns out to be fake

heeddaball

The actual full description was:
Gibson Les Paul Custom Guitar (Made in USA, possibly repro)

Money_maker

If the guitar says its a Gibson Les Paul with a made in USA stamp on the back, can the auction house or rather should the auction house be aware that it is not the real deal? Does burden of inspection fall upon the buyer to ascertain the authenticity, particularly as the possibly repro comment was made?

Rainbowgirl84

Wookey wrote: »

His legal standpoint would be that the item is claimed to be a protected brand when it turns out that it is not, the selling of something that is counterfeited but copyright branded is illegal in most countries whether new or secondhand, no different than a Rolex or a Guicci handbag.

Def. fake...spelling is often the giveaway!

d123

This is worth a read @OP

THE CAUTIONARY TALE OF THE FAKE ROLEX - BUYER BEWARE!

Buying second hand goods at live local auctions can sometimes be problematic and leave the buyer without a satisfactory legal remedy if the goods do not comply with their descriptions and are later proved to be forgeries or fakes. A recent example involved a second hand watch to be auctioned and described as a Rolex.

Read at:
http://commercial-law-london.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-cautionary-tale-of-fake-rolex-buyer.html

shaun_from_Africa

d123 wrote: »

This is worth a read @OP
Read at:
http://commercial-law-london.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-cautionary-tale-of-fake-rolex-buyer.html

The major difference between that case and the OP's situation is that in the OP's case it appears that the auctioneers suspected that the guitar was counterfeit and because of this, they were committing a criminal offence by selling it.
If they had any doubt to its authenticity then they should have removed it from sale until its providence could be proven.

YorksClare

This sounds like a lot of art sales. There are cases where a piece of art goes up for sale at auction, but if the auction house becomes aware of any question of inaccuracy as to the provenance, they are obliged to cancel the sale. If this is a fake instead of an authorised re-run or reproduction, then I would suggest that the OP look at art fraud cases to see whether the laws applied there are similar enough to apply. Making a really good musical instrument is a skill.