A Dutch art studio claims that the giant rubber duck that is coming to Toronto for Canada's 150th birthday is a counterfeit, a claim the owners call "factually and legally incorrect."
The duck will be at the Redpath Waterfront Festival on Canada Day weekend, as a way to attract tourists. Festival organizers say the cost will be $200,000, including a US$71,000 rental fee.
The duck is owned by Americans Craig Samborski and Ryan Whaley, who say they have a U.S. patent.
Studio Floretijn Hofman, the original creator of a giant rubber duck, claims that Craig Samborski has been using their patterns, design and intellectual property "to profit off of what was supposed to be a public art installation."
The studio writes in a statement that Samborski was retained by them in 2014 to help in the production of the installation in Los Angeles.
Whaley says it is a false claim.
"The duck actually goes back to bathtub toys in the 1930s and it's considered public domain," he says.
The Progressive Conservatives brought up the duck issue in Question Period earlier this week, complaining that it is a waste of taxpayer dollars, given the festival gets a $120,000 grant from the province.
The tourism ministry says that the grant covers the festival as a whole, not the duck specifically. The ministry has distanced itself from the claims made by the Dutch studio, saying that it is a dispute between third parties.