Banksy, who once said ‘copyright is for losers,’ has lost two more trademarks of his works.
Earlier this year, the EU Intellectual Property Office ruled on the side of a gift card retailer who ended up clashing with the renowned street artist over the use of his work. His continued anonymity and flippant comments regarding copyright haven’t done him any favours.
Similarly to the reasons behind the stripped protections for Flower Thrower and Laugh Now, Banksy has now lost the trademarks to Radar Rat and Girl with Umbrella.
More specifically on the most recent ruling, greeting card firm Full Colour Black convinced the EU panel to cancel the trademarks to the latter two works of art, The Telegraph reports, with Banksy having found to be filing for trademarks in ‘bad faith’ as he didn’t even want to commercialise the pieces.
‘As Banksy has chosen to be anonymous and cannot be identified this would hinder him from being able to protect this piece of art under copyright laws without identifying himself, while identifying himself would take away from the secretive persona which propels his fame and success,’ the panel wrote.
‘Banksy permitted parties to disseminate his work and even provided high-resolution versions of his work on his website and invited the public to download them and produce their own items,’ it added.
A statement on the website of Pest Control Office Ltd, which represents Banksy, specifically outlines the rights people have with his work – which have come under threat from companies like Full Colour Black. ‘Print them out in a colour that matches your curtains, make a card for your gran, submit them as your own homework, whatever,’ it reads.
‘Please do not use Banksy’s images for any commercial purpose, including launching a range of merchandise or tricking people into thinking something is made or endorsed by the artist when it isn’t… saying Banksy wrote copyright is for losers in his book doesn’t give you free rein to misrepresent the artist and commit fraud. We checked,’ it adds.
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