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FILE - In this April 16, 2016, file photo, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock accepts a fossilized rib and tail vertebrae from a triceratops from Luke Phipps, 12, at the State Capitol in Helena, Mont., after the governor signed a bill to clarify that fossils are part of a property's surface rights, not its mineral rights, unless a contract separating the ownership says otherwise. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 17, 2020, upheld a federal judge's ruling that said dinosaur fossils are part of a property's surface estate in an ongoing battle over ownership of millions of dollars of fossils unearthed on an eastern Montana ranch. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

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Court: Montana family owns dinosaur fossils worth millions
June 23, 2020 2:38 p.m.

Court: Montana family owns dinosaur fossils worth millions

An appeals court has ruled dinosaur fossils worth millions of dollars unearthed on an eastern Montana ranch belong to the owners of the land's surface rights