He built the Museum of Failure into a success. Now he wants it to flop.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SAN FRANCISCO—The founder of the Museum of Failure, which celebrates product flops like Crystal Pepsi and a golf club that doubles as a urinal, has one wish for its highly anticipated exhibition slated to open here next month—that it bombs as spectacularly as the items on display. Samuel West is begging people not to buy tickets to the internationally acclaimed show, and he isn’t joking.

West says his business partner, Martin Biallas, stole his collection and is opening the traveling exhibition without his permission. Biallas says the show is his and he has hired lawyers to shut down West’s campaign to keep people away. A once-fruitful partnership has devolved into a bitter public feud full of name-calling and threats.

Biallas has characterized West’s attempt at being an entrepreneur as an insult to failures. West called Biallas the “Donald Trump of the tacky art world." “So somebody steals your car…and then he’s going to put it in a race, do I want that to succeed?" said West. “Nooooooooo." Samuel West said he hatched the idea for the museum about a decade ago.

The traveling museum has drawn crowds around the globe for its collection of failed innovations. Highlights include Microsoft’s Zune and Colgate beef lasagna, the toothpaste maker’s attempt to sell frozen dinners. There’s also an adults-only section that features a spray-on condom that turned off testers because it took too long to dry.

It is often said that failure is an orphan, but the Museum of Failure has had several fathers. West, a 51-year-old organizational psychologist, said he conceived the idea about a decade ago when he became fascinated by how fear of failure in the workplace stifled innovation. A museum, West said,