However, the Marex artefacts were alleged to have been illegally retrieved by the 1991 Russian-American-Canadian expedition[137] and Marex was issued with a temporary injunction preventing it from carrying out its plans. In October 1992 the injunction was made permanent and the salvage claims of Titanic Ventures were upheld.[139] The decision was later reversed by an appeals court but Marex's claims were not renewed.[137] Even so, Titanic Ventures' control of the artefacts recovered in 1987 remained in question until 1993 when a French administrator in the Office of Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of Equipment, Transportation, and Tourism awarded the company title to the artefacts.[140]