The article below is from the New York Times. It attempts to answer the sticky question of who owns the artifacts brought up from Titanic. It must also be remembered this only covers US Law. (The case in the US is still ongoing).
Nothing that has been salvaged from the Titanic can tell us anything about 1912 that we don't already know. Personal items could still form part of an estate and it can be argued are rightly the property of the descendents.
National Briefing | South
Virginia: Ruling Favors Titanic Salvage Company
The company with exclusive rights to salvage the Titanic is entitled to full compensation for artifacts worth about $110 million that it has recovered in a half-dozen perilous expeditions, a federal judge in Richmond has ruled. However, the ruling by Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of Federal District Court late Thursday did not determine how RMS Titanic Inc. would be paid. Courts had previously declared RMS Titanic salvor-in-possession, but explicitly stated that it did not own the artifacts or the wreck itself. Judge Smith said she could take up to a year to decide whether to give RMS title to the 5,900 artifacts or sell them and turn the proceeds over to the company. Meanwhile, RMS will retain possession of the items, which its parent company, Premier Exhibitions Inc., has been displaying around the world. The artifacts include pieces of china, ship fittings and personal belongings. Contributor: Morag Irving BA (OPEN)., Dip.Lit. e-mail: moragirvinguk@aol.com Tel:01733 345581
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