A court ruling clarified ownership of the “Dueling Dinosaurs.” Part of the specimen is shown here at auction. By Warren CornwallA legal saga that threatened to upend fossil hunting in dinosaur-rich Montana has drawn to a close, and paleontologists are breathing a sigh of relief.The Montana Supreme Court this week ruled that fossils are not legally the same as minerals such as gold or copper.
Therefore, Montana fossils, including a dramatic specimen of two dinosaurs buried together, belong to people who own the land where they are found, rather than to the owners of the minerals underneath that land.The 4-3 decision upholds the way U.S.