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Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

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Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#31

Post by cookie_monsta »

ummwhat wrote: post #24

The article implicitly suggests Banksy is making money off his artwork with word choice like "won't let anyone else profit off it". The idea being to paint him as a sellout and a hypocrite. But is it true? By everyone's admission he isn't selling shoddy kitsch like post cards and fridge magnets. All that's left to sell is the original works, and to the best of my knowledge the people who can actually sell those are u…

I feel the same way. Just because he's not commercializing up to the Holy shouldn't mean that he doesn't get a say in wether his work gets cheapened like this.

And as for the "we're making his work more accessible" argument from the gift card sellers - isn't that what every pirate ever has said to justify profiteering from other people's creation?

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#32

Post by cookie_monsta »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #27

> We legally photograph public graffiti and make it available to you Is that how the copyright works in the UK??? Like I can photograph anybody's art and just sell prints? That doesn't sound right.

I think the point is that the artist does not want to claim copyright.

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#33

Post by Spivak »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #27

> We legally photograph public graffiti and make it available to you Is that how the copyright works in the UK??? Like I can photograph anybody's art and just sell prints? That doesn't sound right.

Related question. Can you just photograph a building a sell photos without a license from the architect?

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#34

Post by [deleted] »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #16

I can kind of get this. He wants to remain anonymous but he doesn't want to see his work on every shonky piece of merch in every dollar store in town. Both of those seem like reasonable desires. Nobody's disputing that he's the creator after all. It looks to me like copyright law is broken, but I guess parliament won't be rushing to fix it to plug gaps for edge cases involving anonymous street artists. What surprises…

[deleted]

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#35

Post by arrrg »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #14
weinzierl wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CC-SA (share-alike) would be in the same spirit and more suitable for artwork I guess, but I'm not very familiar with it. Why can't he use copyright? I didn't quite follow this line of thinking in the original article as well. As far as I understand it copyright per se is automatic (nowadays), so you don't have to file for it. So this doesn't prevent him from staying anonymous. Tradmarks on the other hand have to be…

The way that I understand it, a trademark can be registered to a CPL (UK equivalent to an LLC) but copyright, if registered, has to go to a person. Although I believe that some states in the US allow anonymous copyright via LLC. I am far from being a lawyer, but this makes sense to me - a trademark is designed to be associated with a brand, copyright is designed to designate a person/group as something's creator.

But I thought you don’t have to register copyright? I thought you just had it automatically as soon as you make something?

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#36

Post by mehwoot »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #16

I can kind of get this. He wants to remain anonymous but he doesn't want to see his work on every shonky piece of merch in every dollar store in town. Both of those seem like reasonable desires. Nobody's disputing that he's the creator after all. It looks to me like copyright law is broken, but I guess parliament won't be rushing to fix it to plug gaps for edge cases involving anonymous street artists. What surprises…

The major art dealers who sell his work know who he is. They keep the secret because it's profitable.

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#37

Post by _4ziu »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #16

I can kind of get this. He wants to remain anonymous but he doesn't want to see his work on every shonky piece of merch in every dollar store in town. Both of those seem like reasonable desires. Nobody's disputing that he's the creator after all. It looks to me like copyright law is broken, but I guess parliament won't be rushing to fix it to plug gaps for edge cases involving anonymous street artists. What surprises…

How is banksy going to protect their work if they cannot even prove they made it? I don't even believe all the 'banksy' originals over the years came from one person, it's more likely a group.

Honestly it's frustrating to watch an anonymous entity decorate the city while still expecting people not to use their work. The way banksy has established themself as a figure would indicate they want the art to be free and open for all to use. You cannot have your cake and eat it too, which is to say you cannot be anonymous and trademark your artwork.

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#38

Post by WilliamEdward »

mehwoot wrote: post #36
cookie_monsta wrote: post #16

I can kind of get this. He wants to remain anonymous but he doesn't want to see his work on every shonky piece of merch in every dollar store in town. Both of those seem like reasonable desires. Nobody's disputing that he's the creator after all. It looks to me like copyright law is broken, but I guess parliament won't be rushing to fix it to plug gaps for edge cases involving anonymous street artists. What surprises…

The major art dealers who sell his work know who he is. They keep the secret because it's profitable.

This obviously sounds like something that could be possible, but equally possible is that there is no banksy and it is simply a marketing tactic, where banksy was originally one person that evolved into random artworks from many people.

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#39

Post by TomMckenny »

ummwhat wrote: post #24

The article implicitly suggests Banksy is making money off his artwork with word choice like "won't let anyone else profit off it". The idea being to paint him as a sellout and a hypocrite. But is it true? By everyone's admission he isn't selling shoddy kitsch like post cards and fridge magnets. All that's left to sell is the original works, and to the best of my knowledge the people who can actually sell those are u…

Indeed. And if we assume he does not want money to be made from his works by him _or other people either_ then it is all pretty consistent.

Indeed it's a strange world if he, on principle, refuses to profit by his work but other people must be allowed to.

Re: Banksy's Fake Store Is an Attempt to Abuse Trademark Law to Avoid Copyright Law

#40

Post by unilynx »

makomk wrote: post #21

The website attached to the store is astoundingly corporate. For example, it contains a long and clearly custom-written TOS with classic gems like this: "Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page."

That's just a copy paste from someone else's TOS.
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