Image:BALLOON DOG BOOK END ORANGE from Park Life Store
If you want a cool Balloon Dog you can now buy ones or even make ones not created by Jeff Koons ! (see Image above)
On Thursday, the New York kitsch artist dropped his claim against , the San Francisco Park Life gallery and store that sells balloon-dog bookends made by a Canadian outfit. As reported by Meredith May in Wednesday’s Chronicle, Jeff Koons LLC, a company representing the artist’s intellectual property rights, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Clement Street shop just before Christmas. It claimed infringement based on the 10-foot “Balloon Dog” sculptures that Koons has built for major museums. He also builds 10-inch replicas that sell for $12,500 on eBay.
Image:Jeff Koons Balloon Dog
The letter demanded that by Christmas Eve, the Clement Street store stop selling the balloon bookends, which are actually made of cast resin and weigh 6 pounds apiece, and forfeit the inventory.
But Park Life owner Jamie Alexander kept selling the $55 bookends and found a San Francisco attorney, Jed Wakefield, willing to take the case pro bono. Wakefield filed suit in federal court, and expert witnesses were lining up, including one person with a how-to book on building balloon animals published in the 1960s.
On Thursday, attorneys for Jeff Koons LLC agreed not to pursue any claims and that Park Life is free to continue selling and promoting the bookends into perpetuity. Park Life agreed not to use Koons’ name to sell the bookends, which Alexander had never done anyway.
Via:[sfgate.com]
