A New York judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Vatican concerning rights to reproduce images from treasures in the Vatican Library, said an Associated Press report in the Washington Examiner.
Judge Roslynn Mauskopf ruled late last month that the plaintiffs failed to show they couldn't get a fair hearing in the Vatican courts, where contractual disputes for the images are supposed to be heard.
Magi XXI, Inc. of Long Beach, sued the Vatican and two other co-defendants in US district court in Brooklyn in 2007, alleging they had breached a 2001 agreement granting Magi access to images from the Vatican Library to market candles, chocolate, wrapping paper and other materials.
Mauskopf rejected Magi's objections to having the case heard by the Vatican, ruling that the company could get an adequate hearing here even though the Pope is supreme legislator, executive and judge; appoints the judges who sit on Vatican courts and can overturn court decisions if they're unjust.
"This court shall not presume that the Vatican courts would act in a biased or corrupt manner toward plaintiff because the Vatican state is a defendant," Mauskopf ruled.