Category Archives: street art

Will the Real Banksy Please Stand Up!

Posted on: March 18, 2024 by Emily Gould

We know him so well, and yet we know him not at all. Banksy’s iconic images, his famous pranks and his politically-inspired street art are known the world over, yet he remains a shadowy enigma. Operating through the company Pest Control, the person (or persons) behind the Banksy brand have successfully maintained their anonymity over […]

U.S. Supreme Court declines to review 5Pointz ruling

Posted on: November 13, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

The 5Pointz case has now been confirmed as viable authority in favor of artists’ rights in the United States. In early October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the petition for certiorari filed by developers Gerald Wolkoff and several of his real estate entities, thereby eliminating the last appellate hope the developers had to […]

IS A STORM BREWING IN THE BANKSY TRADE MARK TEACUP?

Posted on: October 7, 2020 by Adam Jomeen

Banksy hit the headlines last month when an EU trade mark featuring his iconic Flower Thrower graffiti was struck down by the EU’s Intellectual Property Office, reigniting claims that the Bristolian street artist is abusing trademark law to secure rights against third parties who commercialise his work without consent.  Whilst Banksy could in principle take […]

5Pointz case stayed pending petition to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on: June 12, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

A nearly seven-year long legal battle over the rights of aerosol artists that played out before the New York courts and resulted in a $6.75 million judgment in favor of the artists has taken yet another turn. In 2018, a ground-breaking judgment was handed down against a group of New York developers for willful removal […]

Corporate Misappropriation of Urban Art: The Legal Landscape in the U.S.

Posted on: March 31, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

Does an advertisement that shows street art without the artist’s permission infringe the artist’s rights? Does it matter if the art was painted on a building with the property owner’s permission? Would the answer change if the mural is on a building that is visible to the public? The unfortunate answer to each of these […]

5Pointz appeal marks quantum shift in U.S. copyright law

Posted on: March 18, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

The appeal of a multi-million dollar award in favor of a group of artists that made headlines in 2018 was recently decided by a U.S. appeals court. The question looming for the last two years in the precedential case known as 5Pointz: would a New York developer be required to pay over $6 million in […]

Multi-million Dollar Award Under Appeal In Divisive 5Pointz Case

Posted on: November 28, 2019 by Stephanie Drawdy

Ninety days versus $6.75 million. That’s what the 5Pointz case currently on appeal in the US before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals boils down to. Twenty-one artists should have been given a ninety-day notice to remove their art from the façade of a real estate developer’s property before he whitewashed the works, according to the […]

“MAY RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION” ©TM : THE NEW BANKSY?

Posted on: November 21, 2019 by Adam Jomeen

Banksy’s well-known quip from 2005 that “Copyright is for losers ©TM” is perhaps more widely attributed than many of his artworks.  Disputes with an Italian museum and a UK greetings card company over the past year suggest a shift, however, in his historically laissez-faire attitude to the commercialisation of his work by unauthorised third parties.  […]

Banksy’s Paint Pot Angel, legal rights and the art market

Posted on: January 19, 2018 by Alexander Herman

An interesting story has made it out of Bristol, the home city (apparently) of the elusive street artist Banksy. Back in 2009, Banksy had collaborated with the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery on an exhibition called Banksy versus Bristol Museum. In true Banksy style, it featured a burnt-out ice cream van on the Museum’s front […]

The Moral Rights in a Banksy?

Posted on: September 14, 2015 by Alexander Herman

As reported far and wide, last Friday a High Court decision was rendered in a case involving a piece of Banksy street art called ‘Art Buff’, which had been stripped off a wall in Folkestone, England, and sent to the US for sale. The work had been added to the side of a building in 2014, in conjunction with a town […]