Rocker Gene Simmons has abandoned his application to trademark his signature “rock on” hand gesture.
The KISS frontman filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier in June to trademark the use of his “devil horns” hand gesture for “entertainment, namely, live performances by a musical artist; personal appearances by a musical artist.”
In the application, he claimed he was the first to use it in 1974, and he was subsequently mocked by members of the rock world, with many fans pointing out the symbol pre-dates the bass player.
The rocker has now withdrawn his bid, with the status on application’s page now reading, “DEAD/APPLICATION/Withdrawn/Abandoned… The owner of the trademark application withdrew (e.g. abandoned) the application and the application is no longer active.”
The listing shows the case was withdrawn on Tuesday, after the applicant “filed an express abandonment.”
Simmons isn’t the only one to use the gesture – late Black Sabbath frontman Ronnie James Dio is also credited with using it extensively. However, in a 2001 interview, the rocker, who died in 2010, said, “That’s like saying I invented the wheel… I’m sure someone did that at some other point. I think you’d have to say that I made it fashionable. I used it so much and all the time and it had become my trademark.”
Following Simmons’ trademark application, Dio’s widow Wendy told The Wrap the rocker was making a “complete fool of himself” with his “laughable” bid, and added, “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.”
https://twitter.com/NikkiSixx/status/875460907945541632
The rock hands gesture was also thought to have been used by John Lennon on the cover of the Beatles’ 1966 single “Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby,” while it’s also used a sports salute and means “I love you” in sign language.