KAWS wins lawsuit over counterfeit works
The American artist KAWS has won his lawsuit against a collection of individuals who were creating counterfeit works of his own art.
Brian Donnelly, known professionally as KAWS, filed the lawsuit against two Singapore-based companies and an individual named Dylan Joy An Leong Yi Zhi, with the guilty parties found to have created dolls and canvases in the likeness of Donnelly’s work. After sending a cease-and-desist letter in 2020, KAWS later filed a lawsuit against them one year later.
Documents from the case revealed one of the companies boasted that they were able to create “custom hand-reworked reproductions” of the artist’s work, with the court finding that the business “knowingly intended to sell counterfeit KAWS goods”.
154 counterfeit items were submitted as evidence by Donnelly and his legal team, with the accusers stating that the recreations: “chill the market for his original work because purchasers fear inadvertently acquiring a counterfeit”.
KAWS figures have become extremely popular in recent years, with celebrities such as V, RM and J Hope from BTS, Drake, Pharrell Williams and DJ Khaled, among many others.
Known for his subversive art that challenges the mainstream understanding of the craft, KAWS is recognised as one of the most pertinent modern creatives.
