Some things are common and belong to everyone. So, we have to respect them. But Gene Simmons seems to have a different opinion. On June 2017 the legendary KISS bassist tried to trademark the “devil’s horns” hand gesture and made an application to the federal copyright office. The reaction of the music fans was critical about Simmons’ application, so he finally decided to withdraw it. Asked by Canada’s Toronto Sun about this negative feedback, Simmons said; “People got very upset — unqualified, no experience, no resume — those are the people in the peanut gallery. And so people get upset about something when they don’t know the facts. Actually, you can trademark anything. And if nobody objects, I can own every breath of air you take”.
It is interesting to see what was written in his original request. Simmons described the sign as consisting “of a hand gesture with the index and small fingers extended upward and the thumb extended perpendicular”, and his goal was to use the “devil’s horns” hand gesture for entertainment purposes (live performances and personal appearances, “no other person, firm, corporation or association has the right to use said mark in commerce, either in the identical form or in such near resemblance”). According to the original request, Simmons first used the certain hand gesture on November 14, 1974, during KISS’ s “Hotter than Hell” tour.
It is very interesting to examine the reaction of Wendy Dio, Ronnie James Dio’s widow, since the “devil’s horns” hand gesture is connected to R. J. Dio. Wendy said; “To try to make money off of something like this is disgusting. It belongs to everyone — it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s a public domain, it shouldn’t be trademarked”.
After all these, we expect that Gene Simmons will trademark every possible hand gesture, our every step, our breath …
