Exit Through The Gift Shop's Mr. Brainwash Found Liable For Copyright Infringement

This article first appeared in Entertainment Law Matters, a Frankfurt Kurnit legal blog.

A federal court in California recently found the central figure in Banksy's street-art documentary entitled Exit Through the Gift Shop liable for copyright infringement. The court found that defendant Thierry Guetta, a/k/a Mr. Brainwash, infringed upon plaintiff Glen Friedman's copyright in his famous photograph (the "Photograph") of the hip hop music group Run-DMC.

In 1985, Mr. Friedman took the Photograph of Run-DMC's three members. The iconic image depicts the three artists standing shoulder-to-shoulder wearing black stetson hats.

Guetta first appears in the Banksy film as a compulsive amateur videographer who shot numerous graffiti artists at work under cover of night. As the film progresses, Guetta himself transforms into a street artist, operating under the moniker "Mr. Brainwash." In 2008, he hosted a Los Angeles art show entitled Life Is Beautiful to showcase his