[meteorite-list] Finders keepers

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:55:07 -0400
Message-ID: <8ols8318ralm7nfadfo2ugr8b0lmhb60t3_at_4ax.com>

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200707061858.htm

Court rules German amateur astronomer can keep meteorite found in Austria
Augsburg, July. 6(AP): A court ruled on Friday that a German amateur astronomer
can keep a meteorite fragment that he found in Austria, dismissing an ownership
claim by an Austrian council.

Karl Wimmer, a physicist from Bavaria, found the 2.84-kilogram (6.26-pound)
fragment on a remote mountain area after a targeted search for pieces of the
meteorite, which plunged into the atmosphere in April 2002.

The council in Reutte, Austria, argued that the piece was its property and sued
for the return of the fragment _ known as ``Neuschwanstein 3'' after the castle
in southern Germany near which another piece was found.

However, the Augsburg state court ruled that Wimmer is entitled to keep his
find.

Presiding judge Franz Woerz concluded that ``there is no earthly right to
heavenly property.''

He said the fragment was ``extraterrestrial material (that) does not come from
another part of the Earth'' and could not be viewed as an asset of the Austrian
council or as having grown on its property.

The court noted that Austrian law allows individuals to gather minerals and
argued that the fragment had no new scientific significance.

Wimmer has offered to sell the fragment to a natural history museum in Vienna,
Austria for euro300,000 (US$400,000).
Received on Fri 06 Jul 2007 10:55:07 AM PDT