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Comment by gkoberger | Hacker News Reader

I had two problems.

First, I really didn't like the tone of the card company. They're selling someone else's work (whether legal or not), and then were condescending toward the person who made it. They say they're just trying to honor Banksy, but they paint him as an out-of-touch rich asshole.

Second, it's hard to know for sure, but I think this analysis misses the bigger point... I feel like opening a small shop that isn't real is very Banksy-esque, and likely is more of a statement on trademark than him actually trying to enforce a trademark. This is clearly just an exhibit + marketing. (It's a glass storefront, after all)

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> they paint him as an out-of-touch rich asshole.

That’s because that’s how he has treated them. Lying about them and what they are doing is nasty. That’s what Banksy did.

Banksy doesn’t want anyone to be profiting from his own work and he has every right to do so if copyright is used. Why would that mean he should accept their royalty offer? They can just stick to nature photos on their cards. How rich Banksy is nothing to do with this.

What the card company is doing is to take advantage of his desire to be anonymous and make money from his work.

I think you mean Banksy doesn’t want anybody but himself profiting off his work. Agreed, that’s his right through copyright. But he refuses to use it. That’s the whole point of the article.

The other point is that Banksy is lying about this small business and what they are doing. This is an objective fact. He claims they sued him. They didn’t. He claims they are a big corporation. They aren’t.

I don't see any proof that Banksy or his legal team lied... all I see is quotes from the card company of what Banksy (or his team) allegedly said, and I have no way of knowing if they're direct quotes or them just "summing it up". They never said the legal team called them "a big corporate group", just that they were trying to paint them as such. There's a difference. (Plus, their own homepage refers to themselves as an "internationally operating greeting card publisher".)

Maybe it's moot, but... yes, Banksy makes a lot of money off his work sometimes.

But there's some things worth mentioning:

1. He also spends a lot of money on his work (look at Dismaland, which was only $1/ticket). 2. Much of his high-priced work is sold by private collectors and he doesn't get the money 3. Or, the one he did sell directly was art itself, and the sale was part of the art (it got shredded) 4. And lastly, he donates it. Like all the profits from this store are getting donated.

I wouldn't necessarily confuse "there's a lot of money surrounding Banksy" with "Banksy is rich".

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