Copyrights on graffiti art

As you already know, I run www.graffitipix.com, which sells graffiti prints. Prior to launching graffitipix.com I sold these same prints on ebay. I was often asked about copyright issues, namely do I have permission to reprint and sell the work of another artist.

Well, as you might imagine, I've done some very extensive research on the matter prior to launching the business. Here's how it works:

Graffiti artists intentionally put their work into the public domain when they create something on public access public spaces. Public spaces are not copyright-able. If I draw something on the outside wall of a publicly accessible building, anyone can take a picture of it. Whomever took that picture owns the copyright on that picture, and may do with it what they may.

For instance, papparazzi take pictures of stars. They are free to sell those pictures to sleazy tabloids because they own the copyrights on those pictures, not the stars they took the pictures of.

Let me say I am a strong believer in copyrights, and the rights of artists. But when a graffiti artists tags a public space, they are putting those images into the public domain. That is afterall what they are after. When you see a book or mag of graffiti art, the money paid for those pictures went to the photographer, not the graffiti artist. And in the case of graffitipix.com, these are all pictures I or my partner took, or that we acquired from the original photographer.

Molly