Gene Simmons Asks Patent Office To Give Him Right To Devil Horns Hand Gesture
LOS ANGELES (AP/KDKA) - Gene Simmons of KISS is trying to copyright the devil horns gesture.
CBS News reports that Simmons filed an application Friday with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He regularly uses the hand gesture during concerts and public appearances, and he claims the hand gesture was first used in commerce by him in 1974.
Simmons says the hand gesture should be trademarked for "entertainment, namely live performances by a musical artist [and] personal appearances by a musical artist."
Ronnie James Dio generally is credited with popularizing the gesture and had said he learned it from his Italian grandmother as a way to ward off the evil eye. John Lennon is making the gesture on the cover of the single version of "Yellow Submarine."
If you want to get picky, Simmons is asking for protection for the gesture with the thumb out, while Dio generally made it with the thumb in.
The gesture also means "I love you" in American Sign Language.
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(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)