VAL ROSS
 From Wednesday's Globe and Mail (February 9th, 2007)

 They're back. It's another invasion of the fake Norval Morrisseaus.
 For years, canvases allegedly done by the great Ojibwa artist have
 been turning up in galleries and at auction -- canvasses which the
 artist, through his business manager and friend Gabor Vadas, insists
 are bogus.

 Now they're showing up on eBay. "It's a new wrinkle on an old scam,"
 says Toronto lawyer Aaron Milrad, who acts for the artist and the
 Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society. And so far, eBay's position is
 that it's up to a vigilant public to inform eBay's 203 million
 registered members of fakes via an automated program; the company
 takes no further responsibility.

 One ad, which appeared in late January, read: "A Genuine 100 per cent
 Athentic [sic] Acrylic on Canvas painting by Norval Morrisseau . . .
 An Excellent Investment and a Golden Opportunity . . ." Prospective
 buyers were told that the painting comes with a certificate by a
 "Highly Qualified REGISTERED CERTIFIED MEMBER OF A.D.A.C. (Artists
 Dealers Association of Canada)."

 Trouble is, there's no such organization. What ADAC usually stands for
 is the Art Dealers Association of Canada; its president, Patricia
 Feheley, is appalled to see her organization cited as endorsing the
 sale of dodgy goods. "I have never been so angry as now, at seeing
 ADAC's name so blatantly plastered on something which the artist says
 is not authentic," she said last week, adding: "They didn't even spell
 authentic right."

 That ad has since expired and the vendor vanished. But Vadas has found
 at least two other phony Morrisseaus currently on offer on eBay.

 Collectors have greedily amassed Morrisseau canvases ever since his
 first exhibition of flat, stylized mythological figures made headlines
 in 1962. The value of his best individual works has climbed as high as
 $100,000, buttressed by recent shows such as the National Gallery of
 Canada's Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist (which will go to the
 National Museum of the American Indian in New York in October, 2007).

 But there's confusion over what is his best work, and indeed, what is
 his work at all. Morrisseau fell on hard times in the 1980s and could
 be seen on skid-row street corners in Vancouver, peddling paintings
 for the price of a bottle. Speculators bought them cheaply, without
 documentation, and attempted to donate them to public galleries for
 huge tax write-offs.

 "All artists are entitled to do inferior works," says Milrad. "The
 problem is the fakes." He's referring to works Morrisseau knows he did
 not create. Often drably colored with wonky signatures, they've
 turned up for more than a decade at auction and in galleries. Vadas
 has more than 1,000 examples on file.

 Two years ago, the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society formed a
 six-person committee of museum and government experts to compile a
 list of all authentic Morrisseaus. To date, the committee has
 identified about 1,200 pieces -- those with proper provenance thanks
 to gallery exhibitions or conscientious owners. The only way any
 vendor of a Morrisseau can claim it is genuine is if this committee
 authenticates it. Feheley has advised eBay that the real ADAC only
 stands behind those paintings endorsed by the committee.

 In fact, fakes of all kinds are a growing problem for eBay. Last year,
 Louis Vuitton filed a civil suit against the on-line marketplace in
 France (it's estimated that 90 per cent of Vuitton bags on sale on
 eBay last year were phony). But lawsuits take time, and eBay, which
 sells about $45-billion (U.S.) worth of goods annually, is
 well-equipped to defend itself.

 A similar case against eBay, filed in 2004 in a U.S. court by Tiffany,
 the luxury jeweller, will come to trial in May, 2007. Until U.S.
 courts tell eBay to police counterfeits more actively, the recourse
 eBay offers to outraged parties is to join its automated Verified
 Rights Owner program (VeRO).

 "Counterfeits are bad for rights owners and for eBay," said Erin
 Sufrin, a spokesperson for eBay Canada. "For this reason, the
 co-operation of rights owners -- who have the necessary expertise in
 their product -- is very important. As eBay is not a retailer, we
 never take possession of the items sold on our site. Therefore, we do
 not have the ability to inspect or examine them."

 Late last month, Milrad couriered a letter to eBay's San Jose, Calif.,
 headquarters saying: "Before any purported Morrisseau works are
 accepted by you for sale, it is imperative that you and the seller
 have the work reviewed by the committee and the artist himself to
 avoid lawsuits."

 In reply, eBay reiterated that the Morrisseau defenders should join
 VeRO.

 As of Feb. 6, eBay still had two fake Morrisseau's on offer. Such legal
 wrangling, Vadas says, costs the Morrisseau estate about $70,000 a
 year. It could get worse: Tiffany spends more than $1-million a year
 (U.S.) tracking down on-line counterfeits.

 But Vadas insists the expense is worth it, adding: "The fakes are a
 cultural catastrophe. We must keep Norval's legacy from becoming
 tainted."