[imagesource: Keith Major]

You might know Jeff Koons as the artist who makes those usually giant sculptures of balloon dogs.

There he is above, with a smaller balloon dog, which has become a part of his unique iconography.

Although, there are some Koons works that are not so unique and original.

Aptly labelled an appropriation artist, according to The Daily Beast, Koons is notorious for getting himself into legal battles over copyright and plagiarism infringements.

Accusations of stealing date as far back as 1989.

His latest legal tussle is just a little sexier, with a claim made over his infamous and sexually explicit ‘Made in Heaven’ series:

Image: Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images

Michael Hayden, a set and prop designer for films and live performances, alleges that Koons walked all over his copyright by incorporating into the series an “original sculptural work” depicting a giant serpent wrapped around a rock, per Artnet:

Image: Michael Hayden / Court Documents

Hayden made the sculpture in 1988 to be used as a bed of sorts so that Cicciolina, Koons’ former wife, “could perform sexually explicit scenes, both live and on camera,” according to court papers:

But Hayden says he retained all copyrights to the work and did not “assign authorship, copyright ownership, or sublicensing rights to Diva Future [the company he sold the sculpture to] or anyone else,” and did not intend for anyone other than Cicciolina, her manager and Diva Futura, to use the work commercially.

…[Koon’s] works were featured in museum and gallery exhibitions around the world and were sold to collectors, the complaint states, even though Koons neither credited Hayden for the image, paid a licensing fee, nor asked for image persmissions.

Cicciolina is the woman that features in Koon’s artworks:

On several occasions in 1989, Koons traveled to Italy to be photographed in sexually explicit positions with Cicciolina.

The images became the source materials for the sculptures, photographs, and paintings that comprise the “Made in Heaven” series.

Here’s Hayden’s original sculpture:

Image: Michael Hayden / Pacer

Apparently, Hayden discovered that Koons had been allegedly stealing his work in 2019 while reading an Italian news article about a lawsuit filed by Cicciolina against Sotheby’s.

There are three “infringing works”, including that polychromed wood sculpture featuring a three-dimensional replica of the original work that you saw above (titled ‘Infringing Work #2), and a 1990 oil-on-canvas painting titled Jeff in the Position of Adam.

There’s also the 1989 lithograph initially commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art that was displayed as a billboard in downtown New York City:

Image: Michael Hayden / Court Documents

As a result, the judge has ruled that Hayden “sufficiently alleges a valid claim of copyright”.

Hayden has asked for up to $25 000 for each count of copyright infringement, without citing a specific amount for monetary damages sought.

[sources:artnet&dailybeast]