It seems that Gene Simmons has realized that his use of the “devil horns” is not as original as he wants to think.
Simmons had submitted a trademark application for the hand gesture of holding the thumb, first and fourth finger in the air as a salute, implying he was the first to use it back in the 70’s for entertainment purposes.
There were two problems with his application. First, the “devil horns” is commonly shown without the thumb extended, instead having it at the palm of your hand along with the second and third finger. The origin of that gesture was even in dispute as it has been used in various cultures for centuries and, within rock music, could be traced back to the late 60’s on an album by the group Coven.
Second, his application with the thumb extended was also the ASL (American Sign Language) gesture for the word love and had been regularly used in a variety of ways in culture over the years.
The original application on file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has now been amended to read “The owner of the trademark application withdrew (e.g. abandoned) the application and the application is no longer active.”
Simmons had previously said that he and KISS had been the first to use the gesture, inspired by the way Spiderman shoots webs out of his hands and was an “homage” to the character.
Of course, during all of this controversy, former Motley Crue member Nicki Sixx had his own idea for a trademark.
