Banksy vs. MUDeC exhibition: British street artist sues 24 Hour Culture

Banksy, the world-famous anonymous street artist who leaves his artwork everywhere and who, in his book Wall and Piece, wrote that “copyright is for losers,” finds himself, ironically, suing 24 Ore Cultura, the company organizing the major Banksy exhibition at MUDeC in Milan for... unauthorized use of his name. In fact, the “Banksy” trademark is managed by a company, Pest Control Office Limited, which has taken 24 Ore Cultura to court, contesting violations in the use of the artist’s name for the sale of gadgets in the Milan museum’s bookshop: diaries, pencils, notebooks, and so on. The news dates back to the end of 2018 but has only been released in the last few hours. Not only that, Pest Control sued the Italian company for improper use of Banksy’s name in the promotional material of the MUDeC exhibition and for unauthorized reproduction of Banksy’s works in the exhibition catalog.

MuDEC organizers are aware that the exhibition is unofficial and unauthorized: however, inclusion in the list of exhibitions not endorsed by the artist evidently was not enough for Banksy. The Milan court judge, however, upheld only one of the objections made by the Pest Control Office, that of the merchandising on sale at MUDeC. The trademark was in fact used to market generic products unrelated to the exhibition-a conduct that, according to the judge, constitutes infringement. By contrast, the use of the name and reproductions of works to publicize the exhibition is not an infringement (the exhibition is in fact dedicated to a single artist and therefore the use of his name in communication campaigns is not illegal, also because the use of the name does not imply the existence of ties with the artist or those who represent him), nor the reproduction of works in the catalog (these are photographic reproductions of works purchased by private individuals after authorization for sale by Banksy himself, and the reproduction rights to 24 Hours Culture were assigned by the owners: a conclusion reached by the judge because Pest Control would not have shown that it had reproduction rights to the works, but merely asserted its claims based on rights arising from trademark registration).

Banksy vs. MUDeC exhibition: British street artist sues 24 Hour Culture

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