Photographer Sues Artist Jeff Koons for Infringement of Gin Ad

Photographer Mitchel Gray has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Jeff
Koons alleging that one of the artist’s works infringes on Gray’s copyright
to a photo used in a Gordon’s® gin advertisement in 1986. The ad
portrays a photo of a woman painting on the beach and a man seated
next to her, a photo of a bottle of Gordon’s® and the tagline “I could go for
something cool, crisp and Gordon’s.”

Koons’ version, which uses the photo with slightly adjusted colors, a
bottle of Gordon’s® in a different spot and the tagline “I could go for
something Gordon’s,” sold for $2.04 million at auction in 2008. The
complaint reportedly asserts that Koons never contacted Gray for
permission to use the photo and never provided him any compensation
from the proceeds of the auction, citing for added support Koons’ testimony
from a similar infringement case filed in 1989 involving a different
piece of art in which Koons said he did not seek permission to use any
of the ads featured in that series of works. Gray seeks damages for three
claims of copyright infringement. See Courthouse News and The New
York Post, December 15, 2015.

Issue 588