# Commercial Law (GCL)

## Title 14. Miscellaneous Consumer Protection Provisions

### Subtitle 5. Fine Prints

#### Section 14-501

(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated.

(b) "Artist" means any person who conceived or created:

  (1) The master image for a fine print; or

  (2) The master image which served as the model for a fine print.

(c)

  (1) "Fine print" means a printed image on paper or any other suitable substance which has been taken off a plate by printing, stamping, casting, or any other process commonly used in the graphic arts.

  (2) "Fine print" includes an engraving, etching, woodcut, lithograph, or serigraph.

(d) "Person" includes an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity.

(e) "Plate" means a plate, stone, block, or other material used to create a fine print or from which a fine print is taken.

(f) "Print" means a fine print.

(g) "Signed print" means a fine print autographed by the artist, whether it was signed or unsigned in the plate.

#### Section 14-502

This subtitle does not apply to:

(1) A fine print printed before July 2, 1974; or

(2) A fine print offered for sale or sold at retail or wholesale for:

  (i) $25 or less, if unframed; or

  (ii) $40 or less, if framed.

#### Section 14-503

(a) A person may not knowingly publish or distribute any catalog, prospectus, or circular which offers for sale a fine print unless it clearly and conspicuously discloses all information required by Sec. 14-504 of this subtitle.

(b) A person may not knowingly sell at retail or wholesale any fine print unless a written invoice, receipt for the purchase price, or certificate furnished to the purchaser clearly and conspicuously discloses all information required by Sec. 14-504 of this subtitle.

(c) If a fine print is described as a "reproduction", the information required by Sec. 14-504 of this subtitle is not required to be disclosed, unless the print allegedly was published in a limited edition, an edition of numbered or signed prints, or any combination of them.

#### Section 14-504

(a) A person who sells or offers to sell a fine print shall disclose the following information:

  (1) The year when printed and the name of the artist;

  (2) Whether the print is a part of a limited edition and, if it is:

    (i) The authorized maximum number of numbered or signed prints, or both, in the edition;

    (ii) The authorized maximum number of unnumbered or unsigned prints, or both, in the edition;

    (iii) Any authorized maximum number of artist's, publisher's, printer's or other proofs, exclusive of trial proofs, outside the regular edition; and

    (iv) The total size of the edition;

  (3) Whether the plate has been destroyed, effaced, altered, defaced, or canceled after the current edition;

  (4) If there were any prior plates of the same master image:

    (i) The total number of plates; and

    (ii) A designation of the plate from which the print was taken;

  (5) If there were any prior or later editions from the same plate:

    (i) The series number of the edition of which the print is a part; and

    (ii) The aggregate size of all other editions;

  (6) Whether the edition is a posthumous edition or restrike and, if it is, whether the plate has been reworked; and

  (7) The name of any workshop where the edition was printed.

(b) If the person lacks knowledge as to any information required to be disclosed by this section, he shall disclaim that knowledge specifically with regard to each of these items of information so that the purchaser is able to judge the degree of uniqueness or scarcity of each print.

#### Section 14-505

(a) A person who sells a fine print in violation of this subtitle is liable to the purchaser, on tender by the purchaser of the print, for its purchase price, with interest from the date of payment of the purchase price.

(b) A person who sells a fine print in willfull violation of this subtitle is liable to the purchaser, on tender by the purchaser of the print, for an amount equal to three times the sum of the purchase price and interest from the date of payment of the purchase price.

(c) An action may not be maintained under this section unless brought within one year after discovery of the violation on which it is based and, in no event, more than three years after the print was sold.

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Md. Code Ann., Com. Law (as displayed at mgaleg.maryland.gov, October 16, 2026)