On the never-ending list of feuds I never thought would become a reality in college football, a possible clash between Texas president Greg Fenves and rock ‘n roll icon Gene Simmons would have been way down on the list in my mind. Little did I know the two have a shared interest with contrasting viewpoints.
Simmons, of KISS fame and fortune, is attempting to file paperwork to trademark the hand gesture routinely used by rock fans commonly referred to as the devil horns. Of course, the gesture is also strikingly similar to the traditional hook’ em horns hand gesture long used by fans of the Texas Longhorns.
Forget about Texas vs. Oklahoma, because we may have ourselves a fun little legal dispute on our hands, as suggested by a tweet published by Fenves recently in response to Simmons’ trademark attempt.
Sorry, @genesimmons, Longhorns have been doing 🤘 since the 50s — more than 20 years before KISS got going https://t.co/a4DF8ItizF
— Greg Fenves (@gregfenves) June 15, 2017
I will not pretend to understand or explain how trademark law works, but it would seem to me Simmons is filing for something that will never stand a chance of actually being approved for a trademark. But good luck to him. Even if he does get his trademark, there won’t be anything stopping Texas fans from throwing up the hook ‘em horns when something is going well (nor will it prevent rival opponents from throwing down the hook ‘em horns when they do something well).
Maybe the two sides can work out a deal to have KISS perform with the Texas marching band if we need to get to a point where negotiations and compromises are needed.