Court orders halt to giant Kaws display at Marina Bay
Non-profit body suing organiser for breaches of intellectual property rights and confidence
The organisers of the Kaws:Holiday showcase in Singapore have been ordered by the court to stop the exhibition.
The 42m-long inflatable work by popular American artist Kaws was meant to be displayed from yesterday to Nov 21 on The Float @ Marina Bay.
But according to a court order seen by The Sunday Times, non-profit organisation The Ryan Foundation is now suing organiser AllRightsReserved, a Hong Kong-based creative studio, citing breach of intellectual property rights and breach of confidence.
ST understands that the foundation - founded by lawyer and art collector Ryan Su - was in talks with AllRightsReserved in 2019 to make the event happen in Singapore before negotiations fell apart.
The interim injunction orders that the exhibition stop taking place. It also orders that the sale and distribution of relevant merchandise relating to the exhibition, as well as all advertising and publicity, be stopped.
The exhibition was meant to open to the public for free from today. It is not clear what stopping it will entail, and if it will require the organisers to dismantle the work.
AllRightsReserved said in a statement: "In relation to the recent groundless allegations made by a third party who attempted to cause interruption to the Kaws:Holiday Singapore exhibition, our company is in the process of seeking urgent legal advice and will apply to court to challenge the prohibitory injunction order.
"Our company takes this incident very seriously and will take all possible steps to ensure that this exhibition can progress in accordance with the laws of Singapore. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
Kaws, whose real name is Brian Donnelly, 47, said: "I have no contractual agreement with The Ryan Foundation. Their accusation is baseless."
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