“Spray” the Word: Graffiti Law is a New Legal Niche

I have been wondering for a while when an attorney will declare that he or she practices “Graffiti Law.” There have been so many graffiti-related cases in the past two years (here, here, here, here and here) that ‘graffiti law’ could very well become a legal niche.

I have not found any ‘graffiti attorney’ yet, but the topic seems to be of interest to scholars. In France, the University of Paris 13 organized a organized a colloquium on law and street art, Droit(s) et Street Art, which took place on October 14 in Paris, at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF). One of the questions asked to the participants was whether graffiti, was “an act of destruction, or an act of creation?"

In the U.S., the City of New York University School of Law has invited Dr. Enrico Bonadio, an intellectual property scholar from the City Law School in London, to be a visiting scholar for the Fall 2016 semester. Dr. Bonadio’s current research focuses on graffiti, street art and copyright law.

Dr. Bonadio’s plan, according to CUNY’s web site, is “is to interview artists from all five boroughs, as he builds an argument for copyright protections for street artists, particularly against corporations that use the street artists’ work, without compensation.”

Dr. Bonadio will soon present his work in progress to the CUNY law community. We hope that his communication will be published, so we can all learn from Dr. Bonadio’s research.

Photo is courtesy of Flickr User Central Intelligence Agency