Titanic salvage company will take case to Supreme Court

ATLANTA - An Atlanta company that has salvaged thousands of items from the Titanic plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that prohibited the company from selling artifacts from the shipwreck. <br> <br> R.M.S. Titanic Incorporated said in filings with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission that the ruling last month by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals conflicted with previous court rulings. <br> <br> The company has recovered about 6,000 items, including the personal belongings of passengers and the base of a statue from the grand staircase, since the wreck was discovered in 1985. <br> <br> R.M.S. Titanic had sought court permission to sell some of the items to private collectors and museums, contending it needs the sales money to launch future expeditions. <br> <br> But a panel of the Appeals Court ruled 3-0 on April 12 that R.M.S. Titanic does not have title to objects taken from the bottom of the sea. <br> <br> In an SEC filing Wednesday, the company said a 1994 court ruling made it the exclusive owner of the artifacts. The filing did not say when the company plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/195261