Last month, I blogged about Jeff Koons's lawyers, who objected to a company in San Francisco selling bookends that look like balloon-dogs because Jeff Koons also once made a sculpture that looked like (different) balloon dogs.
Now, after having a lawsuit filed against them, and after being humiliated around the world as idiotic bullies, the selfsame lawyers have, um, deflated. Koons's firm has given their official okey-dokey to selling balloon-dog-looking housewares and other goods so long as you don't call them "Jeff Koons Balloon Dogs." Of course, no one ever did call them "Jeff Koons Balloon Dogs." But there you go. Money well spent, Koons and Co!
Bloggers largely scoffed at the threat, but Park Life decided not to just sit around and see if Mr. Koons would sue. On January 20, its lawyer, Jedediah Wakefield of Fenwick and West, working pro bono, sued Jeff Koons LLC in San Francisco federal court, asking the court to declare that Park Life wasn't infringing on Mr. Koons's i rights. "They very quickly indicated they weren't interested in putting up a fight," Mr. Wakefield said of Mr. Koons's lawyers. Ultimately, Jeff Koons LLC agreed not to pursue the gallery for the sale of the bookends, and the gallery agreed not to indicate that the bookends were by Mr. Koons, which, Mr. Wakefield added, "they hadn't done and weren't going to do anyway." As a result of the deal, he said, he was planning to file on Thursday for a dismissal of the declaratory judgment suit.
All Bark, No Bite: Settlement Reached in Balloon Dog Dispute
(Thanks, Greg Long!)
