The company with exclusive rights to salvage the Titanic is entitled to full compensation for artifacts worth about $110 million that it has recovered in a half-dozen perilous expeditions to the famous shipwreck, a federal judge has ruled.

However, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith's ruling late Thursday did not determine how RMS Titanic Inc. will be paid. She said she could take up to a year to decide whether to give RMS title to the approximately 5,900 artifacts or sell them and turn the proceeds over to the company.

Meanwhile, RMS will retain possession of the items, which its Atlanta-based parent company Premier Exhibitions Inc. has been displaying in exhibitions around the world. The artifacts include pieces of china, ship fittings and personal belongings.

"The company is extremely pleased with the ruling, which reflects a thoughtful, deliberate approach to this case as well as the judge's deep concern over the long-term well-being of the Titanic artifacts," RMS attorney Brian Wainger said in a telephone interview.

The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage on April 12, 1912, killing more than 1,500 of the 2,228 passengers and crew. An international team led by oceanographer Robert Ballard located the wreckage on the North Atlantic floor about 400 miles off Newfoundland in 1985.

In her ruling, Smith praised RMS Titanic for taking substantial financial and physical risks and for going to great lengths to preserve the fragile artifacts. She said the company has devoted more than 500,000 hours of labor to salvaging, conserving and exhibiting the artifacts.

Smith noted that RMS had to invent tools to convert manned submersible vessels from research-only to salvage operations. For example, the company developed a vacuum system for collection of small items and a system that used diesel fuel-filled lift bags to recover a 15-ton section of hull � the largest artifact ever recovered from the deep ocean.

To read the complete article, see:Titanic Salvage Company Wins Award from Virginia Court(www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=39974)