Woman Who Claims To Own The Sun Is Suing eBay For Blocking Sales Of Solar Real Estate
SACRAMENTO (CBS Sacramento) - A woman who claims to own the sun is suing eBay for blocking her sales of solar real estate.
Maria Angeles Duran, a 54-year-old Spanish woman, had been selling lots of the sun for about a dollar each.
She got about 600 sales before the online auction site shut her down, fearing the woman was scamming bidders.
Duran is known as an eccentric character. She has studied law, wrote a racy romance novel and even found a religion, reports The Washington Post.
She first claimed ownership to the sun in 2010, after an American named Dennis Hope claimed to own the moon.
Both base their claims on a loophole in the U.N. Outer Space Treaty which states no nation can stake a claim to any celestial object. But the treaty makes no mention of individuals, claims Duran.
Duran claims that since eBay shut down her auction, she lost out on sales. She is suing eBay for about $11,000 in damages.
A Spanish court has ruled her case against the auction website can go forward. But the court is not getting involved in the tricky legal question of whether Duran holds title to the sun.
For the time being, Duran continues to sell parcels of the sun on her personal website.
(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
