“Svein Roar Grande and Stein Lie are acquitted of claims made by Bjarne Melgaard”, reads the conclusion of the judgment from the Oslo district court.
Melgaard has to pay just over NOK 10 million to Stein Lie and NOK 2.3 million to Svein Roar Grande, respectively.
It was VG who first mentioned the judgment.
Bjarne Melgaard, who is considered one of Norway’s foremost contemporary artists, has for many years collaborated with the businessmen Grande and Lie, but in September last year it became known that he has sued the two.
Over several years, the two businessmen have paid large sums to Melgaard, while the artist has sent them works and given them rights to produce art in Melgaard’s name. They have nevertheless disagreed about which and how much art has been sent, and whether the art that has been sent has been intended for resale or just storage.
In an interview with Today’s Business in August this year, Melgaard said that the aim of the lawsuit was primarily to cancel the agreement, because he claimed that he did not understand “the scope and consequences of the text of the agreement as it was written”. However, he said he did not think he would win the trial.
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