Art Rogers, a professional photographer, took a black-and-white photo of a man and a woman with their arms full of puppies.

Jeff Koons, an internationally known artist, found the picture on a postcard and wanted to make a sculpture based on the photograph for an art show on the theme of banality of everyday items.

He asked that as much detail be copied as possible,[2] though the puppies were to be made blue, their noses exaggerated, and flowers to be added to the hair of the man and woman.

Upon discovering that his picture had been copied, Rogers sued Koons and the Sonnabend Gallery for copyright infringement.

Koons admitted to having copied the image intentionally, but attempted to claim fair use by parody.