Etsy cracks down on Denver artists selling Casa Bonita merchandise

Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz on Monday said he had received a cease-and-desist email from Etsy prompted by his attempts to sell an illustration of Casa Bonita on the online marketplace.

“Casa Bonita LLC reported that my illustration listing ‘infringed on their trademark,’ ” Krumpholz told The Denver Post after Westword first reported the story. “Because of that Etsy shut down the listing … it’s currently in my ‘inactive listings folder’ on Etsy.”

The email, which was also sent to a least one other Denver artist who depicted the public, pink-hued edifice of the Lakewood Mexican restaurant, cited infringement of intellectual property. Etsy has frozen funds in Krumpholz’s payment account on the website “until the reporting party withdraws the report(s) of intellectual property infringement.”

“Etsy received a report of trademark infringement from The Beautiful Opco LLC alleging that certain content in your Etsy shop infringe their intellectual property,” the email reads. “When a complaining party submits a report of alleged infringement that complies with our policies, we are required to remove the content cited in the report in accordance with our Intellectual Property Policy. … Etsy deactivated the 1 listing specified as infringing in the report and, where applicable, refunded the listing fee….”

Artist Emily Burrowes, who sells her work under the name BigAssMaps, also received a cease-and-desist email from Etsy identical to Krumpholz’s. Like him, she has been praised by art lovers, business owners and others for documenting Front Range history and culture in her illustrations.

Casa Bonita recently reopened after changing hands from its longtime owners to new owners Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of “South Park” and “The Book of Mormon.” They reportedly invested $40 million in the aging “eater-tainment” concept, which includes waterfalls, puppet shows, an arcade and live music.

The Beautiful Opco LLC is the company they formed to buy the restaurant.

Casa Bonita has for decades been a local landmark and nostalgic icon for many metro-area residents who grew up going there. Westword, social media users such as artist and illustrator Paul Heaston, and others said the infringement email is ironic since Parker and Stone once depicted Casa Bonita without apparent authorization in an episode of the animated “South Park” (2003’s “Mexican Disneyland” — which itself includes parodic commentary on theme-park nature of Casa Bonita).

“This is so crappy,” Heaston wrote on Twitter. “(Karl) has lovingly documented Denver historic buildings for years and Parker and Stone’s path to buying Casa Bonita started with their ‘unauthorized’ cartoon depiction of it in South Park, seen by millions! Ridiculous.”

Westword, which originally ran Krumpholz’s depiction of Casa Bonita on one of its May print covers, has not received any messages from Casa Bonita or Etsy, according to co-founder and editor Patricia Calhoun. Casa Bonita representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A number of other unlicensed items are still for sale on Etsy that feature Casa Bonita’s logo and imagery.

Complicating matters is the fact that History Colorado sells Krumpholz’s prints, which also show up in his collections and graphic novels, for sale at bookstores and indie shops such as Mutiny Now. There’s a banner of his work at History Colorado’s flagship Denver museum designed as a selfie backdrop — with Casa Bonita large in the background.