Bryan Munn at Sequential, a blog that covers “Canadian Comix News & Culture,” has been following the Ben Wicks abandoned comic court case. Here’s review of Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.
It appears that under Canadian law the defendants have to prove that the Wicks family had left it property behind on purpose. I think that would be very tough to prove. If I bought a property and items were left behind – how would I know the previous owner’s intent unless I had helped move them. So I think this case is coming down the why the new owners didn’t contact the family when they first discovered the artwork to ask their intention.