Coined Phrase Cited in Prolonged ACCG Court Case

The Bard, William Shakespeare

“That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”  – William Shakespeare

The Bard’s poetic coined phrase features prominently in the prosecution’s latest pleading filed in the case of U.S. v. Three Knife-Shaped Coins et al., the Ancient Coin Collectors’ Guild’s (ACCG) test case that so far has failed to strike down American customs barriers restricting specific types of ancient Chinese and Cypriot coins determined to be in danger of looting.

“The Guild’s arguments … are the same as those this Court has rejected time and again,” wrote Assistant United States Attorney. “The Guild’s motion for summary judgment and response in opposition to the government’s motion for summary judgment advance the[] same tired arguments once again.”

The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland wants the federal district court to forfeit ancient Chinese and Cypriot coins that customs officers confiscated from the ACCG when the group purposefully transported them to Baltimore in 2009 without proper import documentation. That act began the ACCG’s quixotic effort to challenge the import controls preventing the coins’ entry. The Guild continues to litigate the case despite having lost every judicial round to date. (Learn more by clicking here.)

Attorney Molissa Farber declared in the government’s most recent pleading, “Incredibly, despite numerous substantive filings and three adverse memorandum opinions on this subject, the Guild continues to argue that the government must show that the Defendant Property was ‘first discovered within’ or is ‘subject to the export control of’ Cyprus or China as part of its prima facie case.” “At each turn, the government has opposed these same arguments. And this Court has issued multiple memorandum opinions holding the same thing: that the government is not ‘required to establish that the coins were ‘first discovered within’ and ‘subject to the export control’ of either Cyprus or China.’”

Put another way, and to cite another coined phrase, a rose is a rose is a rose.

Photo credit: Demian Adrox, freeimages.com

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