Music

Katy Perry fails to trademark Left Shark

by Tyler Munro

Left Shark was one of those funny, maybe calculated Super Bowl moments that was just that: A moment. And then, like everything else, we took it too far. Within minutes, Katy Perry’s inept dancer’s gaffes were meme-ified, advertised and driven fin-first into the ground.

But Katy Perry is more than an artist. She’s a business women, and seeing the Left Shark’s long term potential as her own marketeable troll face, she tried to trademark it, especially since companies have started capitalizing on it.

Unfortunately for Perry, they said nope.

The man 3D printing Left Sharks said he wouldn’t back down from Katy Perry’s cease and desists, claiming that “you can’t copyright a costume,” which, well, seems wrong. But the courts all agreed, and the trademark office is standing pat. Here’s what trademark examiner David Collier had to say about the request:

Specifically, the specimen 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. 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 sharks mouth appears without teeth; the shark also has oval eyes without eyelids.

That said, this applies only to the Left Shark design. Expect the phrase Left Shark to be trademarked eventually. Until then, your dank memes are safe. [h/t Gigwise]