Legendary street artist Banksy has launched a legal bid to have his works protected by trademark laws in Australia to prevent his art from being illegally copied.
However, it is unclear if his endeavour to cover his works with a trademark will succeed, as a similar action launched in the EU fell through.
In particular, a European intellectual property court emphasised that a copyright - which Banksy once said was "for losers", as the court made sure to mention in its ruling - requires the applicant's identity to be revealed.
Additionally, Tim Golder, an intellectual property expert from Melbourne, told the Sydney Morning Herald that, under Australian laws, Banksy will also have to come clean and unmask himself if he wants to win the bid.
“The legal person who owns the right has to make the claim. You can’t get out of that", Golder shared with the newspaper.
The lawyer added that Banksy "got himself in a bit of a corner": trademark registration is unlikely to stop people from copying his artwork.
The England-based street artist's satirical works, appearing on publicly visible surfaces throughout the globe, have made him a worldwide phenomenon. Banksy's popularity has also been enhanced by his enigmatic personality - up to this day, it remains unknown who the artist is, leading to numerous speculations about his identity.