Governor signs new law to discourage selling fake celebrity signatures

SACRAMENTO – Governor Brown signed AB 1570 earlier this month, authored by Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang (R-Diamond Bar) and co-authored by Senator Joel Anderson (R- El Cajon), which will require autographed memorabilia dealers to demonstrate a certificate of authenticity for any autographed item they sell. This bill was introduced to ensure the authenticity of all memorabilia sold in California and to increase consumer confidence within the industry.

Anderson said, “I am happy Governor Brown signed AB 1570 because discouraging memorabilia dealers from selling fake autographs will protect consumers.”

With AB 1570 if a dealer gives a collector a false certificate of authenticity, the collector is entitled to recover up to 10 times what was paid for the fake signature.