Sometimes these frivolous things actually work for the celebrity as in the case of Spike Lee vs Spike TV. Granted he didn’t get a trademark/copyright/whatever but he did get a settlement.
To be fair, the man released an album titled “Asshole.”
That gesture is older than he is, by a long long time. It was popularized by Ronny James Dio, who got it from his relatives. It is the “thing” they do to in Sicily/Italy to ward off the Evil Eye (malocchio).
Gene didn’t invent it. He’s just trying to steal it. It’s been in Italy for generations, for centuries.
None of that is relevant.
You don’t have to invent something to make it into your trademark. It doesn’t have to be new. It can be as old as the hills.
St. Pauli Girl has a trademark that’s a picture of a buxom girl in a dirndl serving mugs of beer. Girls, boobs, dirndls, and mugs of beer have been around a lot longer than the St. Pauli Girl brewery. Indeed, St. Pauli was Hamburg’s famous red light district.
ABC didn’t invent the series of letters “ABC.”
So it doesn’t matter who started doing that feature and how long ago it was and how much later Gene Simmons got around to doing it.
That’s all piffle.
What is important is:
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What is being claimed as a trademark is likely not capable of functioning as a trademark—that is, an indicator of the source of foods or services—in the way that the purported mark is being described. He would have a much better case if he were to be asserting rights in a specific drawing or image of a hand making that gesture.
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The purported mark is likely not distinctive for the services he indicates.
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Simmons hasn’t used the purported trademark in commerce.
It is entirely conceivable that many businesses could take the gesture and make an enforceable trademark out of it.
Well, I patented the wheel, so pay up, Johnny Hart!
54698 560832 65 239074 4093 3-5 **! 
This whole thread is patently absurd.
Damn. All I got’s this patent for dirndls. Now I got to find out what it is.
Dwn wth drndls!
NitPick
Gene Simmon is the Bass Guitarist
Paul Stanley sings
They both sing. Paul is just better at it.
And that’s why he pays me royalties, for I hold the patent on circles.
To be fair, Gene never used alcohol or drugs.
Cocaine? No. Busloads of women? Yes. Asshole? Certainly. Marketing genius? For sure.
It’s true. Poor Gene can’t sing, but he does a pretty good job of grunting in some semblance of a tune.
I always considered Gene the front man of the group, with Paul as the primary lead vocalist and Gene as the secondary lead vocalist. (In most bands, the lead singer is also the front man, but not always)
Yeah, this is a little pedantic, but I’m a Doper, so whaddaya expect? 
I can’t resist sharing this clip from the Mike Douglas show in 1974 where Totie Fields outs him as a nice Jewish boy: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZWncYsuR_o
There used to be a jump-blues band called Little Charlie and the Nighcats that would be a good example here.
Charlie Baty played guitar and was kind of quiet and unassuming, almost shy. But it was his band and carried his name. Meanwhile, Rick Estrin was the flashy lead singer. He dressed nicer than anyone else in the band, wore dark glasses, and really stood out.
I’d overhear couples talking in the audience who had never seen the band. “Oh, look! There’s Little Charlie” , when Rick Estrin took the stage. I’d lean over and explain that the flashy dude was Rick Estrin. Then Charlie would come out and I’d tell them *that’s * Charlie, and they’d be all puzzled.
Woah. You know Little Charlie and the Nightcats?? I love those guys - I discovered them when I saw them open for either John Hiatt or Robert Cray sometime in the late 80s.
Yep. They, along with Anson Funderburg and the Rockets (featuring Sam Meyers) are two of my favorite bands of all time.
Similar to the J. Geils Band.
Fine, then I’ll ask you:
Why the hell is the alphabet in that order? :dubious: