Katy Perry's attempt to register "Left Shark" as a trademark design failed to pass muster at the U.S. Trademark Office, but the pop singer can resubmit the claim.
"Left Shark" became a sensation during Perry's Super Bowl halftime performance when the performer in the shark suit failed to keep up with the dance moves, which created a buzz on the Internet.
The term "Left Shark" became an Internet meme and the costume started popping up everywhere.
Things got sticky legally when
3D artist Fernando Sosa created a "Left Shark" figurine and began selling it on the Internet – until he got a cease-and-desist letter from Perry's attorneys.
U.S. trademark examiner David Collier ruled, though, that Perry had not presented enough evidence that would make "Left Shark" unique enough to the performer in design to warrant a trademark, ,
according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Collier wrote that Perry "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."
"Specifically, the [photograph] 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," Collier wrote. "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."
According to CNBC, the singer started selling her own Left Shark apparel on her
website – from $25 t-shirts to $129 jumpsuits.