Controversies

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• Hobby Lobby quoted former presidents who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 in its campaign, including George Washington, but the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) reported that the company had altered the quotes without providing the full context.

• Hobby Lobby faced a backlash on social media after it tweeted about the advert on Sunday, and Twitter users shared the full-page ad in pictures taken of newspapers they were reading.

• Arts and crafts giant Hobby Lobby faced a backlash after it ran a full-page advertisement on July 4 in several newspapers across the U.S. that appeared to call for a Christian-run government.

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• The company believes that more than 20 companies have violated its intellectual property rights

• The Crocs firm filed lawsuits against firms such as Walmart, Hobby Lobby and Loeffler Randall “for copying” the design of its famous plastic shoes.

• The Colorado-based shoemaker filed a lawsuit on July 12 against 21 retailers, manufacturers, and distributors - including Walmart and Hobby Lobby - alleging trademark infringement on its clogs.

Company response

• Investigation — Christie’s

  we are reviewing all representations made to us by prior owners

• Denial — Christie’s

  Assertions within the filing that suggest Christie’s had knowledge of the original fraud or illegal importation do not comport with our investigation.

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• Hobby Lobby, the Oklahoma-based nationwide arts and crafts chain whose family owners founded the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, is suing Christie’s auction house for fraud and breach of warranty for selling it an ancient tablet, inscribed with part of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which US authorities say has been looted.

• The lawsuit, filed today, claims that Christie’s offered assurances during a 2014 private sale that the consignor, who is only identified in the lawsuit as “a private art collector who resides in London”, was legally entitled to sell the ancient object, when the auction house knew its provenance was fake.

• Christie's "knowingly made misrepresentations to Hobby Lobby that amount to both a breach of express warrant and fraud concerning the Tablet's provenance," the lawsuit states, "adopting and affirming a fictitious history created without basis in fact by a previous owner about a 1981 sale of the Tablet in the United States in order to disguise the illegal importation of the object into the United States after 1990."