3D
Printing peeps the world over must be singing praises for Left Shark right now.
This
as Katy Perry’s application for a trademark claim on Left Shark has been
rejected by the US Trademark Office as noted in the article “Katy Perry's Left
Shark trademark bid denied”, published 22 April 2015, BBC News.
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For
those who missed it, here’s the Katy Perry's Super Bowl XLIX
Halftime performance yet again!
Trademark
Examiner David Collier in delivering his verdict, said that not only was there
no evidence that Left Shark was not an official representative of Katy Perry,
as he has no name and doesn’t look like her.
Not
only that, but even in the very application they'd filed, the pictorial
representation of Left Shark did not look like the Left Shark in Kart Per's
performance as noted in the article “Katy
Perry's "Left Shark" Design Rejected By Trademark Examiner”,
published APRIL 21, 2015 by Eriq Gardner, Hollywood Reporter.
To
quote Trademark Examiner David Collier: “Specifically, the [photograph]
displays the mark as a stylized depiction of a forward leaning shark in nearly
a front profile with a portion of a dorsal fin, two pectoral fins and two legs
and feet substituted for the caudal fin on the tail," he wrote. "The
shark has five gills, a full mouth with teeth and round eyes with eyelids;
however, the drawing displays the mark as a stylized depiction of an upright
shark in full front profile with no dorsal fin, two full pectoral fins and two
legs and feet; the shark has three gills and the shark's mouth appears without
teeth; the shark also has oval eyes without eyelids”.
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For
the uninitiated, Left Shark came to prominence when the dancer wearing the
bodysuit of a shark appeared to be dancing out of synch with the music during
Katy Perry's Super Bowl XLIX Halftime performance.
The
Video below makes that plainly obvious, yet again.
One
thing is for sure though; Left Shark may still be a star in Glu Mobile’s Video
Game based on Katy Perry as he's now fair game for anyone to use as noted in my
blog article
entitled “Glu
Mobile signs Katy Perry to make a Mobile Game - Katy Perry and Left Shark in a
Celebrity Melee of Gaming Apps”.
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This
case is a test case that proves that any character that appears in any live performance
that's not clearly branded or trademarked by the performer/artiste of the
company sponsoring the performer or bearing no likeness to the company or
performer/artiste is fair game and can be copied.
Best
of all, 3D printing fans like Fernando Sosa, who Katy Perry's lawyers had
contacted to stop printing Left Shark, can continue doing his thing as noted in
the article “Don't
panic, America: Katy Perry can't trademark Left Shark after all”, published
22.04.2015 BY ANDREA ROMANO, Mashable.
I'm
just a tad confused as to why the Golden Lion didn't get as much love from 3D
Printers as the Left Shark did.
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