Park Life

How much is that balloon doggie in the window? And who owns the right to sell it?

This is not a rhetorical question for two parties involved in a dispute about balloon animals.

Today, SF's Park Life gallery and store filed a response to the cease-and-decist letter it received over the holidays from famous NY-based artist Jeff Koons. As The Bay Citizen readers might recall, the store (alongside Toronto-based manufacturer imm Living) was hit with the legal complaint for selling bookends in the shape of balloon dogs — the bookends, Koons' lawyers said, looked too much like a sculpture from Koons called "Balloon Dog."

The store, through lawyer Jed Wakefield of Fenwick and West LLP, asked for a declaratory judgement against Koons. Basically, Wakefield said that the judgement is a way for Park Life to not have to "sit around and wait" for Koons to either back down or make good on its threat of legal action if the store didn't stop selling or displaying the bookends.

"It could bring freedom to balloon animals everywhere," Wakefield said. He got involved in the dispute after reading about the kerfluffle in the press.

It's hard not to enjoy the sheer ridiculousness of the situation (Park Life's legal document opens with "As virtually any clown can attest, no one owns the idea of making a balloon dog, and the shape created by twisting a balloon into a dog-like form is part of the public domain" and Art Info has a hilarious rundown on zingers) but there are serious consequences. Namely, can Jeff Koons, an artist who has made a living from appropriating pop culture ephemera, make a case that his balloon dogs are protected? With more and more work being made from other work that has been made, the courts have seen quite a bit of action on this topic. (As the New York Times story on the balloon dog flap made clear, Koons himself has been the target of copyright lawsuits.)

After the defendant has been served, Koons' legal team will have 21 days to respond, and perhaps file its own lawsuit making good on their stated threats. For now, Park Life has been enjoying the spotlight placed on its bookends: owner Jamie Alexander said that he's gotten 300-400 emails from people looking to purchase the bookends and sales are brisk in the store.

And in their window, of course, are the balloon doggies.