Banksy fights to keep his own NAME as rival launches bitter court battle – with artist forced to release rare statement

BANKSY could lose the right to his own name in a landmark case against the world famous artist. The faceless graffiti star is being forced to defend his trademark of the word Banksy to sell images and merchandise. A case brought by greeting card company Full Colour Black and its owner Andrew Gallagher claim the unknown artist had failed to use the trademark. Gallagher is already suing Banksy for defamation in a separate case over an Instagram post that allegedly encouraged followers to steal from the GUESS store on Regents Street after it advertised an apparent collaboration.

Businessman Gallagher, who sells photos of the artist’s public work, has applied to have Banksy’s trademark cancelled for “non-use”. And for the first time one of the artist's team will be forced to give evidence in a tribunal of the Intellectual Property Office in April to counter the claims. A source said: “They will have to stand up like a ventriloquist’s puppet and say Banksy’s words in the tribunal.

“Banksy may be in court but we won't know who he is.”. It will be the first time someone representing Banksy will be speaking publicly and forced to answer questions about him. A director of his firm, Pest Control Office, will try to prove that Banksy has sold items of merchandise between 2017 and 2022. Pest Control Office, which charges to authenticate Banksy images, says it sold a number of items including clocks, cushions, mugs, t-shirts and a handbag through his online store.

Banksy in the past has eschewed commercialism and once wrote “copyright is for losers”. But his company says this does not give the public “free rein to misrepresent the artist and commit fraud”. A source close to the case told The Sun: “He’s had the registrations for years and hasn’t used them. “Everyone and his dog uses Banksy descriptively, when you see Banksy describing something you don’t necessarily think it comes from Banksy, it doesn’t function as a trademark anymore.

“He hasn’t sold things with the word Banksy, he doesn’t do spin off and merchandise. “Him owning the trademark is problematic for the industry, it allows Pest Control to flex their muscles in a way that is potentially unfair for competition. “Someone from Pest Control will be put in the tribunal and swear on the bible and will be grilled on what they do, and all these various facts, and finally say something on the record.”.

In 2019, Banksy launched a pop-up shop called Gross Domestic Product in Croydon in response to his legal battles. The shop never officially opened to the public but showcased his merchandise including the stab-proof vest worn by Stormzy at Glastonbury. In a rare public statement, he said: “A greetings card company is contesting the trademark I hold to my art, and attempting to take custody of my name so they can sell their fake Banksy merchandise legally.”.

Banksy’s popularity has soared in the past decade with the artist continuing his guerilla graffiti campaign on streets around the country. In 2018 his work “Girl With Balloon” sold for £1m at Sotheby’s when a hidden shredder was activated destroying half the image. It was returned to auction three years later and sold for a record £18.5million. But the anonymous street artist's work was nicked during a 37-second heist at Grove Gallery back in September last year - with two men later being charged.

However, the artwork was later recovered and returned to the Grove. It isn't the first time the artist's work has been nicked. Last August, his Peckham Wolf satellite piece was stolen. And in 2023, a man was also arrested after a £500,000 Banksy artwork was removed from a street sign with bolt cutters. BANKSY first got noticed for spray-painting trains and walls in his home city of Bristol during the early 1990s.

Street art and graffiti can be considered criminal damage so it's thought the artist stayed anonymous to avoid a run-in with the law. In the beginning, his pieces were mainly created in Bristol, but in the 2000s his artworks started appearing all over the UK and other parts of the world. Banksy chose to use stencils to create his pieces, probably because it's a faster way to paint. He was influenced in his early days by a French graffiti artist called Blek le Rat.

Blek le Rat is considered to be the father of stencil graffiti and people sometimes confuse the work of the two artists. Banksy doesn't only do street art - he has produced drawings, paintings and installation pieces. The anonymous artist no longer sells photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti. But his public "installations" are regularly resold, often even by removing the wall they were painted on.