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Takashi Murakami

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Clint Arthur, who purchased several works by Takashi Murakami at the Vuitton boutique set up in the middle of the artist's retrospective at the museum in 2007, objected in his initial suits to a lack of proper documentation accompanying two limited-edition prints he bought for a total of $12,000.

Now Arthur is accusing Vuitton of fraud after learning, in an interview show curator Paul Schimmel did with ARTINFO in 2007, that the prints are made from the same materials as the handbags that were also on offer in the boutique for about $1,000 apiece. Arthur says that Vuitton hid the fact that the same materials had been used.

In one of Vuitton's legal memos in the case, it argues that "such ambiguity is... part and parcel of the Murakami aesthetic and thus, was part of the bargain."

Arthur's attorneys filed a legal memo alleging the fraud last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, countering an attempt by Vuitton to have the original case dismissed as groundless.

Vuitton says that Arthur has declined an offer of $12,000 plus interest in exchange for the works he purchased, and that the suit is an "opportunistic" bid for "windfall profits."

Arthur says, "For this to happen with one of the world's top artists in one of the world's top art museums stinks... and that's why I'm going to keep going until I get to the bottom of this."

A hearing on Vuitton's motion to dismiss is scheduled for Monday.