Rocker Claims he owns Sign for Love

Gene Simmons, co-founder of Kiss
image by Jason Hargrove

Gene Simmons, the co-founder of the oldies rock band Kiss, doesn't want anyone using the sign language gesture for love without his permission-because he claims he owns it. Last week, he filed an application with the patent office to trademark the gesture (which rock music enthusiasts know as "devil horns") he claims to have started using in the band's act during 1974. His filing says, "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." Trademark attorney Michael Cohen tells the Los Angeles Times:

"There's plenty of other trademarks that have been filed for the same symbol.  So, to me, he's literally trying to trademark the hand gesture as opposed to the drawing of the hand gesture.. He also has to establish that that hand gesture is associated with him. So in the mind of consumers that go to rock performances, are they going to associate that symbol with Gene Simmons?"

Read the LA Times story here. The Washington Post takes a look at some of the other rockers who used the gesture before Kiss in an article here. Read the Simmons application here.