Banksy, Vandalism & Copyright - 3 views

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  #1 Jianwei Tan on 25 Aug 09

   

  http://peteashton.com/2006/10/infringing_the_bankster/
  
  I came across this story some time back when Banksy's works were more popular. Banksy is the handle used by an anonymous graffiti artist in England. As with most graffiti artists, Banksy practices his art form on public property. His graffiti has become famous largely due to he's distinctive stencilled style and the political commentary he injects into his artworks. He has never been caught and to this day remains quasi-anonymous.
  
  Here's his wiki for good measure, some of his pieces are really nice.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy
  
  The story I've linked above explains how this person was notified via a law firm about his copyright infringement on a photograph he took of a Banksy graffiti that he was trying to sell. Banksy had hired a law firm to protect the copyright of his graffiti artworks. Some of the issues surrounding this story are:
  
  1) Graffiti is usually a form of vandalism and illegal. What kind of copyright do the artists of these works of art have?
  
  2) Due to the illegal nature of graffiti, most graffiti artists remain anonymous to evade the law. Being anonymous, are these graffiti artists able to prove they executed the said piece of graffiti?
  
  What if the following scenario were to come up: Banksy rides by my house in the middle of the night and decides to deface one of my garden walls with a picture of a rat in drapped with a Singapore flag. The graffiti attracts a lot of attention from the media and Mr. Mahathir comes down to my house and says he will pay me $1 million dollars if I were willing to let him remove the wall with the graffiti and install it in his house. What kind of rights would Banksy have over said transaction?

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner"><a href="http://peteashton.com/2006/10/infringing_the_bankster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://peteashton.com/2006/10/infringing_the_bankster/</a> <br /> <br /> I came across this story some time back when Banksy's works were more popular. Banksy is the handle used by an anonymous graffiti artist in England. As with most graffiti artists, Banksy practices his art form on public property. His graffiti has become famous largely due to he's distinctive stencilled style and the political commentary he injects into his artworks. He has never been caught and to this day remains quasi-anonymous. <br /> <br /> Here's his wiki for good measure, some of his pieces are really nice. <br /> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy</a> <br /> <br /> The story I've linked above explains how this person was notified via a law firm about his copyright infringement on a photograph he took of a Banksy graffiti that he was trying to sell. Banksy had hired a law firm to protect the copyright of his graffiti artworks. Some of the issues surrounding this story are: <br /> <br /> 1) Graffiti is usually a form of vandalism and illegal. What kind of copyright do the artists of these works of art have? <br /> <br /> 2) Due to the illegal nature of graffiti, most graffiti artists remain anonymous to evade the law. Being anonymous, are these graffiti artists able to prove they executed the said piece of graffiti? <br /> <br /> What if the following scenario were to come up: Banksy rides by my house in the middle of the night and decides to deface one of my garden walls with a picture of a rat in drapped with a Singapore flag. The graffiti attracts a lot of attention from the media and Mr. Mahathir comes down to my house and says he will pay me $1 million dollars if I were willing to let him remove the wall with the graffiti and install it in his house. What kind of rights would Banksy have over said transaction?</div>

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