Paris appeals court upholds plagiarism conviction for Jeff Koons

The confirmation of the plagiarism conviction for Jeff Koons has arrived: in fact, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the ruling that the Tribunal de grande istance (the civil court of first instance) had issued in 2018 against the American artist. Following the ruling, Koons had appealed, but there was nothing to be done: according to the French court, Jeff Koons’ 1988 work Fait d’hiver is a plagiarism of a 1985 advertisement by the clothing brand Naf Naf.

Koons’ work, a porcelain, shows a half-naked girl lying on the ground in the snow, receiving help from an animal, who arrives with a keg of St. Bernard dog cordial, along with a pair of penguins. Penguins and decorations aside, this is the same scene seen in the advertisement from the 1980s.The author of the advertisement, Franck Davidovici, had therefore sued Koons in 2015, asking for 300,000 euros in damages (a value far less than the value of the work, purchased in 2007 by the Prada Foundation for 4 million euros).

Koons’ defense line had sought to rely on freedom of parody and expression. But the appeals court found that “the work was not presented as a criticism, caricature, or as inspired by a previous work.” The court therefore ordered Koons, his company, and the Centre Georges-Pompidou (which exhibited the work in 2014: that was when Davidovici’s complaint began) to pay 190,000 euros to the publicist. All that remains for Koons now is to attempt the last degree of judgment, which is to appeal to the cassation.

Paris appeals court upholds plagiarism conviction for Jeff Koons

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