TraceArt.app is published by Barbara Lambert and Michael Netter, lawyers and mediators admitted to the Geneva Bar, acting as a simple partnership (société simple) within the meaning of Articles 530 et seq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO).
The French version of this legal notice is authoritative. This English translation is provided for information purposes only.
TraceArt.app is an independent advisory triage tool designed for the preliminary verification of cultural property provenance. It comprises two main components:
TraceArt.app does not provide legal advice and does not constitute legal representation. The results produced by the tool are not legal opinions, certificates of origin, authenticity certificates or guarantees of non-spoliation. They do not replace the opinion of a certified expert or verification with the competent authorities (INTERPOL, Art Loss Register, customs).
TraceArt.app is not affiliated with any of the referenced third-party institutions and does not act on their behalf.
3.1 Access and use. Access to TraceArt.app is free and open to any individual or legal entity wishing to carry out provenance checks for lawful personal or professional purposes. Use of the site constitutes full acceptance of these terms.
3.2 Intellectual property. The structure, layout, presentation texts, editorial criteria and source code of TraceArt.app are the property of their authors and are protected by Swiss copyright law (CopA, RS 231.1). Any reproduction, even partial, for commercial or non-commercial purposes, requires prior written authorisation from the publishers. The names, descriptions and links of referenced databases belong to their respective publishers.
3.3 Permitted uses. Use of the site for pre-acquisition verification, provenance assessment, academic research or professional due diligence is expressly authorised.
3.4 Prohibited uses. The following are prohibited in particular: use of the site for fraudulent or unlawful purposes; any attempt to circumvent technical security measures; automated and systematic extraction of directory content (scraping) without prior agreement; and any action likely to disrupt the operation of the site or infringe the rights of third parties.
4.1 Data controller. Barbara Lambert and Michael Netter, contact details above. Contact for exercising rights: contact@traceart.app.
4.2 Data collected.
4.3 No tracking tools. The site uses no traffic analysis tools (Google Analytics, Plausible, Matomo or equivalent), no advertising tracking cookies and no third-party tracking pixels.
4.4 User rights. In accordance with the revised Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP, RS 235.1, in force since 1 September 2023) and, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, Regulation 2016/679), any individual whose data is processed has the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, objection and data portability. These rights may be exercised by contacting contact@traceart.app. In the event of an unresolved complaint, the user may contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).
4.5 Minors. The site is not intended for persons under the age of 18. No data relating to minors is knowingly collected.
5.1 Image processing. The photograph uploaded for analysis is transmitted to the technical provider Anthropic PBC (United States), operator of the multimodal AI model used, for the time strictly necessary to generate the report. No image is durably stored on TraceArt.app servers after processing. Only a technical identifier (SHA-256 cryptographic fingerprint and perceptual hash) may be retained for abuse prevention and duplicate detection, without allowing reconstruction of the source image.
5.2 Reverse image search. Where this service is enabled, a resized copy of the photograph is transmitted to SerpApi LLC (United States), which queries the Google Lens service on our behalf to identify public pages where the image may appear. This transmission is temporary and subject to the same reservations as those set out in paragraph 5.3.
5.3 Transfer outside Switzerland / EU. The use of Anthropic and SerpApi involves a temporary transfer of data to the United States. These providers apply contractual confidentiality commitments in accordance with recognised international standards. The user accepts this transfer by submitting an analysis.
5.4 No use for AI training. Photographs uploaded by users are never used to train, fine-tune or evaluate artificial intelligence models, by TraceArt.app or by its providers in connection with this service.
5.5 No publication. Uploaded images are never published, nor transmitted to third parties for purposes other than those described in paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2.
5.6 Content of photographs. The user undertakes to upload only photographs of artworks or cultural objects for which they hold the necessary rights. Strictly prohibited: sexual content, content involving minors, violent content, content promoting terrorism or hatred, and any content unlawful under Swiss or EU law. Every uploaded image undergoes an automated compliance check. The user bears full civil and criminal liability for any upload of illegal content.
The information published on TraceArt.app is purely indicative. It does not constitute legal advice, a certificate of origin, an authenticity certificate or a confirmation of ownership or non-ownership of an object.
TraceArt.app does not guarantee the completeness, accuracy, currency or continuous availability of the referenced databases. These resources are managed by independent third parties; their content is the exclusive responsibility of their respective publishers.
Any decision to acquire, restitute, pursue legal action or take any other action based, even in part, on information from TraceArt.app is taken under the sole responsibility of the user. The publishers disclaim all liability for direct or indirect damages resulting from the use of, or inability to use, the site or the resources it references.
The publishers reserve the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the service at any time without notice.
Barbara Lambert and Michael Netter practise as lawyers admitted to the Geneva Bar. Accordingly, Swiss professional secrecy (legal professional privilege) applies as a matter of law (Art. 13 of the Federal Lawyers Act, LLCA, RS 935.61) to all information entrusted to them in the course of their professional activities, including in connection with the mediation service offered through TraceArt.app.
Information communicated in the context of a mediation is strictly confidential. It is never published, transmitted to third parties without the express agreement of the parties concerned, or used for any purpose other than conducting the mediation procedure.
No photograph, document or correspondence communicated in the context of a mediation is retained beyond the time required by the mandate, unless the parties instruct otherwise.
TraceArt.app cooperates with competent judicial and law enforcement authorities upon formal legal request. In the event of discovery of manifestly illegal content (in particular child sexual abuse material or content promoting terrorism), TraceArt.app will spontaneously report it to the competent Swiss authorities in accordance with applicable legal obligations.
This site and its terms of use are governed by Swiss law, to the exclusion of any conflict of laws rules.
Any dispute relating to the use of the site or these terms shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Canton of Geneva, subject to appeal to the Federal Tribunal. This clause does not preclude recourse to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) prior to any court proceedings.
The publishers reserve the right to modify this legal notice at any time. The version in force is the one published on the site at the time of consultation. The French version is authoritative in the event of any discrepancy with this English translation.