{"id":18137,"date":"2020-10-06T09:33:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T07:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/singulartm.com\/?p=18137"},"modified":"2021-08-16T08:15:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T06:15:29","slug":"banksy-shows-you-why-trademark-use-is-as-important-as-its-registration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devel.singulartm.com\/en\/blog\/banksy-shows-you-why-trademark-use-is-as-important-as-its-registration\/","title":{"rendered":"Banksy shows you why trademark use is as important as its registration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trademark use is as important as its registration, because it affects its validity. The well-known and now popular author of different works of protest and street art, famous for his anonymity, Banksy<\/strong>, has lost his well-known Flower Thrower<\/em><\/strong> trademark as a result of not accrediting its use and bad faith registration<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Do you want to know why this has happened? Read about it below.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2014, the company Pest Control<\/strong>, which claims to be the guardian of Banksy’s interests, managed to register Flower Thrower as a European Union figurative trademark<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The protection it sought for its trademark was for up to 11 products and services, mainly marketing or merchandising, (printing products, clothing, bags and toys, among others).<\/p>\n

When a trademark is granted, from that very day, the Offices legally grant the trademark owner a period of 5 years to use it under its protective umbrella. After that period, if the owner has not made use of their trademark, a third party may seek to have it invalidated, despite its 10 years of exclusivity. In 2019, Full Colour<\/strong> warned that Banksy<\/strong> had not used his trademark, so they tried to cancel it, something known as ‘cancellation action.’<\/strong><\/p>\n

To back up their action, Full Colour requested proof of use for all products and services granted. And not only that, they also said it was registered in ‘bad faith<\/strong>‘ in order to prevent others from selling products with that famous image.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Did Banksy fail to prove use of the trademark?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Banksy did not prove any use of his trademark. Furthermore, mid way through the hearing he opened a shop in an attempt to prove that the use of his trademark was real, selling products with his work, something that Full Colour used against him and that the EUIPO frowned upon.<\/p>\n

Another reason that played in favor of Full Colour was what is called bad faith registration. Without there being a legal definition of what it actually is, its accreditation is based on several criteria:<\/p>\n