Appeals court shows doubt as sculptor tries to revive copyright suit against Jeff Koons

A U.S. appeals panel signaled on Wednesday that it may reject sculptor Michael Hayden’s attempt to resurrect a copyright claim against artist Jeff Koons. The skepticism emerged during arguments reported by Reuters, as judges questioned whether Hayden had waited far too long to file the lawsuit, which was brought more than three decades after Koons created the works at issue.

Hayden sued in 2021, claiming Koons used one of his stone set designs — a serpent coiled around a rock — in the 1989 “Made in Heaven” series. The sculptor said he originally built the piece for Ilona Staller, the Italian performer and politician better known as Cicciolina, during the late 1980s. Koons collaborated with Staller on the series and later married her in 1991, before the couple divorced in 1994.

Judges question why the lawsuit came decades after the artwork’s debut

During the hearing at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Hayden’s attorney argued that Hayden only learned in 2019 that Koons’ photographs, sculptures and paintings may have incorporated his set piece. He asked the panel to overturn a Manhattan judge’s decision dismissing the case.

But the judges pressed him on why Hayden did not act sooner. Judge Denny Chin noted, according to Reuters, that Koons’ Venice exhibition in 1990 generated widespread attention in Italy, where Hayden lived at the time. Chin suggested that a reasonable person would have noticed such a highly publicized debut. “You seem to be suggesting that if you’re a hermit, you get the hermit’s privilege of waiting 30 years,” he said.

Judge Richard Sullivan echoed the concern and pointed to the “totality of the circumstances,” questioning how Hayden could have remained unaware of the series for so long. Judge Eunice Lee also sat on the panel.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Reif had thrown out the lawsuit in February, concluding that Hayden “should have known” of the alleged infringement decades earlier. The appeal now turns on whether the judges believe Hayden acted within a legally acceptable time frame — an uphill battle based on the tone of the questioning.

The case is Hayden v. Koons, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 25-498.