In the battle of Katy Perry's "Left Shark" trademark, round one goes to the fishes. After her Super Bowl XLIX halftime show dancer made a huge splash on social media, Perry's team attempted to copyright her bumbling scaly backup dancer, but the U.S. Trademark Office isn't buying her pitch yet.
Today (April 22), it was announced that Perry's first attempt to trademark the costumes, figurines and likeness of her "Left Shark" (also called "Right Shark," "Drunk Shark" and "Basking Shark") failed after the "This Is How We Do" singer failed to prove that consumers look at that image and immediately think of Perry and her halftime performance.
In technical speak, the U.S. Trademark Office's Dave Collier wrote that Perry's attempted trademark "identifies only a particular character; it does not function as a service mark to identify and distinguish applicant's services from those of others and to indicate the source of applicant's services," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Perry and her team also had a few flubs on their trademark application, including differences betweent the costume, photographs and the original sketches of what eventually became the infamous "Left Shark."
"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 shark's mouth appears without teeth; the shark also has oval eyes without eyelids," Collier wrote in the detailed description of the fishy costume.
Perry and her team also were not specific enough in their attempts to block costumes and figurines.
Spotted @leftshark doing community service @coachella
A photo posted by KATY PERRY (@katyperry) on Apr 12, 2015 at 12:01am PDT
Despite the minor setbacks, Perry was able to copyright the name "Left Shark" and she is able to resubmit her materials for further review.
The trademark attempts stem from Perry's attempts to stop the sale of 3D printed "Left Shark" figurines by artist Fernando Sosa in February. The singer's legal team sent a cease-and-desist to Sosa, writing that, "Our client [Perry] recently has learned that you have been involved in the manufacture, sale, marketing and distribution of merchandise featuring a shark sculpture which embodies and uses the [Super Bowl halftime show], and that you have displayed this product on your website, in connection with such sale and distribution."
