[imagesource: Banksy/Pinterest]

Banksy cut his teeth in the same way as all street artists worth their salt do – defying the law and throwing up work while avoiding the cops.

Then the art world got involved, and despite his best efforts, he gained international fame as his work appreciated in value.

He is still respected in the community, and his latest artwork on the London Underground was a fitting throwback to the tradition of hitting up trains.

If you’re keen to know more about him in general, the doccie Banksy Most Wanted is a good place to start.

Throughout it all, he has managed to stay anonymous, and while that has worked to keep him out of trouble, it’s becoming a bit of a hazard as he fights for the rights to his work.

According to The Telegraph, the artist has been stripped of a trademark for one of his most famous pieces, Flower Thrower.

A greeting card company, Full Colour Black, has been using that image and others on their products, which Banksy wasn’t too happy about.

Image: Full Colour Black

He took them to court, and two years later, the judges passed a ruling in favour of the card makers, in part because he refused to disclose his identity.

The panel, part of the European Union Intellectual Property Office, said: “Banksy has chosen to remain anonymous and for the most part to paint graffiti on other people’s property without their permission rather than to paint it on canvases or his own property.

Image: Getty

“He has also chosen to be very vocal regarding his disdain for intellectual property rights… It must be pointed out that another factor worthy of consideration is that he cannot be identified as the unquestionable owner of such works as his identity is hidden; it further cannot be established without question that the artist holds any copyrights to graffiti.”

In 2014, Banksy, represented by Pest Control Office Ltd, successfully applied for an EU trademark of the Flower Thrower artwork after nine years of it adorning a wall in Jerusalem.

It also featured on the cover of his book, Wall and Peace, in which he made fun of copyright laws.

Full Colour Black says that they specialise in “the commercialisation of street art”, which would make the majority of graffiti artists rather angry:

The judges heard evidence suggesting Banksy had used the copyright of others, as well as declared “any advert in public space … is yours to take, re-arrange and re-use.”

In reference to Banksy’s use of the Flower Thrower in his shop in 2019, they found that:

…“his intention was not to use the mark as a trademark to commercialise goods… but only to circumnavigate the law. These actions are inconsistent with honest practices.”

The trademark was declared “invalid” on the grounds of “bad faith”.

In this sense, he has to reconsider whether any of his trademarks are actually valid.

This is a tough one – graffiti is there for the public. The very foundations of it lie in reclaiming space and challenging society while giving the finger to the formal confines of the art world.

Banksy falls into a weird grey category somewhere in the midst of all of that.

[source:telegraph]