GENE SIMMONS SEEKS TO TRADEMARK “DEVIL’S HORN” HAND GESTURE
The Hollywood Reporter reports:
Kiss frontman Gene Simmons is awaiting the signal from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after he filed an application Friday for a trademark [devil’s horn] [Dana’s note: See picture below].
According to Simmons, this hand gesture was first used in commerce November 14th, 1974. That appears to correspond with Kiss’ Hotter Than Hell tour.
Simmons is claiming the hand gesture mark for “entertainment, namely, live performances by a musical artist; personal appearances by a musical artist.”
Before the Trademark Office allows this hand gesture to be registered — it perhaps wouldn’t be unprecedented — an examiner would consider the likelihood of confusion and, possibly, whether it’s too generic to be associated with Simmons.
…An even bigger question is the extent to which Simmons could enforce trademark rights even if his registration is accepted.
source: hollywoodreporter.com
IMO, this is not a “business decision” or “capitalism” at play. This action demonstrates what a “money grubbing whore” Gene is. He didn’t invent the “I love you” hand sign and he sure as hell didn’t popularize the metal horns. I think Dio will always be known for adding the metal horns to our heavy metal culture.
If Gene wants to trademark anything, he should trademark a boxer’s speed bag with his face on it. I’m sure there would be plenty of buyers after Gene’s stupid metal horn trademark gimmick. Now that would be a smart “business decision” by Gene!
If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.
I call dibbs on the British version of flipped the bird
And I think Spiderman used it first