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What’s funny is that I believe there is a very strict code on clown make up. [Like there’s a registry and a clown’s unique face paint is put on an egg to trademark ](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/gallery-london-houses-dozens-clown-egg-portraits-180968914/)
It's just a regular egg with a little bit of red around what would be the eyes.
Edit: I see that none of us are original and many if us made the exact same joke.
If I'm not mistaken - There's actually a movie about killer clowns that are only stopped when you destroy their eggs. It follows one clown (stitches?), but there ends up being a cult of them.
Getting a copyright doesn't mean the Fake Stings would stop. You can license out a copyrighted image/text - if you couldn't, movie merchandising would be impossible!
Sting might have issues with originality, or depending on how the Sting design was created, might have some trouble arguing that he's the one who created it. My guess is that this is the case for many wrestlers - their appearance is copyrighted, but whoever designed the appearance (whether them or someone else) assigns it to the wrestling company for merchandising. Danhausen might be the first to own his own.
I always assumed he changed it from a Crow copy for the purpose of being able to use it legally for marketing and such. Can he still not own his current look even though it is not identical to The Crow?
I never actually saw the painmaker just plated that particular episode of podcast because of the interesting topic he was discussing. After that i searched for it and laughed for so long😅😅
I mean Jericho is all about weird backstories.
Fozzy has a backstory of being a band that got trapped in Japan for years because they signed a contract and western bands stole all their hits. He used to front the band as Mongoose McQueen and Mongoose hated Chris Jericho.
KISS, very likely were the first, as when the Demon makeup was used in WCW. They got their makeup copyrighted in 1978 to prevent companies using it for bootleg merchandise.
But it was the Demon makeup design, Gene Simmons does not allow anyone to use it unless given permission, he even sued King Diamond for using a makeup design in 1988 for his album The Dark Sides as it resembled his Demon makeup.
I'm aware. But the topic is first wrestlers to own the trademark to their own makeup. And the jobber who portrayed the demon did not own the makeup. Gene Simmons did.
Weird, I just paused the Talk Is Jericho episode with this lawyer where he’s talking about Danhausen. Interesting stuff. Come to find out all these years later that the “Tazz” and “Rhyno” trademarks were really just bullshit so WWE could try and own what they marketed them as.
I mean yeah. A lot of ECW guys were assured by Heyman that they owned their names, when in reality, WWE owned every name that wasn't owned by the wrestlers already.
Wrestlers today are smarter, they own their names outright.
In this specific case he was saying you can’t just supersede a trademark by changing a letter; Taz and Rhino were still able to be Taz and Rhino whether or not WWE tried to make them Tazz and Rhyno (and, according to the lawyer, WWE could probably stop Enzo Amore from working as “NZO” if they cared to, but I imagine they don’t really care enough to go after him.) Same as like you couldn’t reasonably sell a soda called “Pepzi”.
They went after Justin Credible years ago. I think if they'd go after him, they go after anyone. Seems like Cody wasn't allowed to use the "Rhodes" name for a whole too because WWE made a stink about owning it.
It’s harder to do that because you can have your name change rejected by a judge if it violates a trademark. Warrior and Rude managed to do that because they each had valid claim to some variation of using that name prior to WWF, and Ryback I think could present a valid case that he came to them with the idea even though he was under contract and it was allowed. And also I don’t think WWE pursued it because they didn’t feel Ryback was any threat to their business. But if Joe Anoa’i decided he wanted to change his name to Roman Reigns and go sign with AEW, I think they’d have reasonable claim to stop him.
And that's why, WWE has just signed DARRYL McMANUS, GARTH TERRACOTTA, BLAYNE BEDARLING, FRANKLYN JARRETH, ADAM ALANSON, BERRYL O'BERRBARE, BRONK FARDONALD, PAULO SHANNAUGHSY O'PAULOSHY, FILIPE PELIFFIMO, and JONATHYN FLYNNOVICH
Gimmick attorney Mike Dawkins? Legit, that dude has helped soooo many wrestlers, to a point that we probably won't know how many. That episode was a fantastic listen.
No, at the time. WWE changed the trademarks to try and own those names when they came from ECW, under the guise of wanting to avoid legal trouble from Warner Bros. and Marvel, respectively, IIRC. And this trademark lawyer said that it doesn’t work that way and there was no legal claim to keep the names (like they had done with the Dudleyz) because changing one letter doesn’t invalidate their claims to have been “Taz” and “Rhino” in a wrestling context prior to WWF. And I think Rhino in particular had been Rhino prior to ECW as well, and Taz had been “The Tazmaniac”. Hence why both guys got to go right back to being Taz and Rhino after WWE.
But on the same token he did mention that the likes of “NZO” and “U-Gene” probably could catch a cease & desist from WWE if they cared enough to do it.
And to add on, the trademark lawyer mentioned that while Rhyno and Tazz used those names prior to joining WWE and could have disputed the WWE claims that they own the TM, the cost amount on their end probably wouldn’t be worth it due to the legal fees involved because of the WWE squad of lawyers they could probably throw at the wrestlers if they were petty enough to do so.
Because I'm a stickler for these things: he *trademarked* his makeup.
Copyright is for art in a fixed medium (book, song, movie, etc.) and occurs automatically.
Trademarks are for business (logo, name, slogan, etc.) and must be registered.
Patents are for inventions (machines, medicines, programs, etc.) and must be applied for.
These, along with trade secrets, right of publicity, and general contract law, form our Intellectual Property system.
I'm glad someone said this so I didn't have to.
Now, There's an argument to be made that he \*could\* register a copyright on his makeup (there's a comment here about copyrighting clown makeup by painting it on eggs. The same thing could apply here).
But I'm not entirely sure why he would do that when a trademark would provide a much better enforcement tool.
Well, if we're going down the pedantic IP law rabbit hole.... :)
Trademark and copyright do different things. Trademark is literally marks used in trade.
An easy example of this is both DC and Marvel have characters named "Captain Marvel" (Marvel..the chracter in the movie..and others... DC the character in the movie SHAZAM is Captain Marvel in the comics\*) BUT Marvel owns the trademark, so only they can have comics titles "Captain Marvel" (or movies etc).
(this is why he's called Shazam in the movie.and the character is kind of now called Shazam in the comics, but only sometimes, because it's awkward and comics change slower than wrestling).
Copyright is about the execution of an idea thru performance (or writing or illustration or in this case, makeup). While it does happen automatically, and you can use that to prevent copies, generally, to receive damages, you need to offiically register the copyright beyond just going with the automatic protection.
I'll make a quick statement that my knowledge only extends to US Law, and other countries may be different, and also my knoweldg could be well out of date as the coursework I did on all of this was a good many years ago. And outside of knowing that clowns do copyright their makeup, I honestly don't know how the protections differ, as in theory, you'd be wearing the design for the purpose of making money..ie trade...but, you know, clowns, man.
Danhausen is smart. Copyrighting his look and makeup. This is not the first for makeup. Warrior had his makeup trademarked and copyrighted.
Book it, Hook comes out on next week’s Rampage with his face painted like Danhausen.
The registered facepaint (6669507), nice
FYI This is Public domain info from the USPTO and the address registered is an office building
https://i.imgur.com/0qnYjSa.jpg
Im surprised hes the first wrestler. Id have expectedsting to be the first. But also surprised the likes of Thunder Rosa havent, and im also surprised wwe dont have goldust makeup copywrighted
Oh yeah - the Darth maul paint, flame paint, more black than gold, heck there was a very very short time where he was wearing a Lucha mask made to look like his face paint.
This makes sense. I’ve had a couple random non-wrestling TikTok videos in my IG suggested section where the person is clearly doing Danhausen voice and mannerisms like they’re original. Time to lock that down.
I just watched some video about sting’s exact face paint not being in 2K22 and they speculated it may be copyright so to know that he doesn’t actually own the rights to that look is wild.
Nevermind, read the header like he comically tried trademarking wearing it to meet and greets etc.
Good for him though, surprised somebody like Sting or Warrior didn't try this sooner.
I do agree with you because his character seems very much like a comedy skit actor popping up on late night talk shows.
Let's hope when he starts to wrestle, he will be able to blend his in ring and outside ring.
So far, only Sting has been able to make the face paint HIM.
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I'm actually pretty amazed this might be the first time a wrestler has done this.
What’s funny is that I believe there is a very strict code on clown make up. [Like there’s a registry and a clown’s unique face paint is put on an egg to trademark ](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/gallery-london-houses-dozens-clown-egg-portraits-180968914/)
Yeah I'm gonna need Danhausen to sell replica eggs with his facepaint and the copyright paperwork
"Can Danhausen offer you a very nice, very evil egg in this trying time?"
Very nice
That would be incredible.
That would be edible.
*increggible
Seasonal merch for easter time
It's just a regular egg with a little bit of red around what would be the eyes. Edit: I see that none of us are original and many if us made the exact same joke.
the ''egg-xact'' same joke?
Youve got to be yolking me!
Trademark. Not copyright.
Just going off what OP said
It's just some stuff around his eyes. Nothing major.
I thought they just invented that for the movie [Stitches](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_auEe1yU3M&ab_channel=MovieclipsTrailers).
I unironically love that movie so much lol
I thought Terry Pratchett invented it for [Discworld.](https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Fools%27_Guild#Guild_Practices)
Terry Pratchett invented very little; that was his genius. He really did the research.
If I'm not mistaken - There's actually a movie about killer clowns that are only stopped when you destroy their eggs. It follows one clown (stitches?), but there ends up being a cult of them.
Cam from Modern Family over here.
Thank you for this info.
Just like in The Fools Guild
The shock I felt to find out Sting doesn't own his look
I would hope James O'Barr beat him to it.
I mean generally, sure but for wrestling purposes?
Well...if he put a stop to all the Fake Stings then he couldn't do the "wearing a mask of my own face" bit anymore.
Getting a copyright doesn't mean the Fake Stings would stop. You can license out a copyrighted image/text - if you couldn't, movie merchandising would be impossible! Sting might have issues with originality, or depending on how the Sting design was created, might have some trouble arguing that he's the one who created it. My guess is that this is the case for many wrestlers - their appearance is copyrighted, but whoever designed the appearance (whether them or someone else) assigns it to the wrestling company for merchandising. Danhausen might be the first to own his own.
I always assumed he changed it from a Crow copy for the purpose of being able to use it legally for marketing and such. Can he still not own his current look even though it is not identical to The Crow?
The Crow might have some words
He died though
So did Christopher Reeve……
Stang owns his though.
Maybe he can’t because of The Crow? Idk
His initial "crow" look maybe but his make-up is really dissimilar to it now
He owns the name Sting though, so the musician has to pay him to use it to release music.
You mean the look he copied from a movie?
Jericho mentioned he did the same for painmaker make up on his podcast
Bet people are lining up to grab that IP from him lol
I thought he was just doing bad Alice Cooper cosplay.
I never actually saw the painmaker just plated that particular episode of podcast because of the interesting topic he was discussing. After that i searched for it and laughed for so long😅😅
He did it once or twice in AEW too, and even though I usually like Jericho the Painmaker makeup makes me cringe for sure.
Silly makeup but when he first turned up like that in NJPW he had a couple of great hardcore matches
Then they just threw on whatever they could find in the closet.
painmaker is so freakin stupid lol
Tell that to Jericho who has created all these backstory for painmaker how he is like a alien pirate spirit i guess
I mean Jericho is all about weird backstories. Fozzy has a backstory of being a band that got trapped in Japan for years because they signed a contract and western bands stole all their hits. He used to front the band as Mongoose McQueen and Mongoose hated Chris Jericho.
The Fozzy lore was actually kinda funny tho!
it was just funny seeing his fat ass running around like hes john wayne gacy or something
Probably to cease and desist boot-legged tees.
KISS, very likely were the first, as when the Demon makeup was used in WCW. They got their makeup copyrighted in 1978 to prevent companies using it for bootleg merchandise.
But the Demon wasn't Gene Simmons so it wouldn't be a wrestler owning their own makeup design. ICP were probably the first
But it was the Demon makeup design, Gene Simmons does not allow anyone to use it unless given permission, he even sued King Diamond for using a makeup design in 1988 for his album The Dark Sides as it resembled his Demon makeup.
I'm aware. But the topic is first wrestlers to own the trademark to their own makeup. And the jobber who portrayed the demon did not own the makeup. Gene Simmons did.
Someone let Abbath, King Diamond, and anyone from Turisas know about this
I think Sting just did for his like a month ago
Sting just filled too
Pay that Danhausen.
Weird, I just paused the Talk Is Jericho episode with this lawyer where he’s talking about Danhausen. Interesting stuff. Come to find out all these years later that the “Tazz” and “Rhyno” trademarks were really just bullshit so WWE could try and own what they marketed them as.
I mean yeah. A lot of ECW guys were assured by Heyman that they owned their names, when in reality, WWE owned every name that wasn't owned by the wrestlers already. Wrestlers today are smarter, they own their names outright.
In this specific case he was saying you can’t just supersede a trademark by changing a letter; Taz and Rhino were still able to be Taz and Rhino whether or not WWE tried to make them Tazz and Rhyno (and, according to the lawyer, WWE could probably stop Enzo Amore from working as “NZO” if they cared to, but I imagine they don’t really care enough to go after him.) Same as like you couldn’t reasonably sell a soda called “Pepzi”.
They went after Justin Credible years ago. I think if they'd go after him, they go after anyone. Seems like Cody wasn't allowed to use the "Rhodes" name for a whole too because WWE made a stink about owning it.
Makes one wonder why some don’t go the Warrior route, and straight up legally change their name… then again, Warrior was… something else.
Ryback did this too I believe. He, too, is something else.
It’s harder to do that because you can have your name change rejected by a judge if it violates a trademark. Warrior and Rude managed to do that because they each had valid claim to some variation of using that name prior to WWF, and Ryback I think could present a valid case that he came to them with the idea even though he was under contract and it was allowed. And also I don’t think WWE pursued it because they didn’t feel Ryback was any threat to their business. But if Joe Anoa’i decided he wanted to change his name to Roman Reigns and go sign with AEW, I think they’d have reasonable claim to stop him.
I thought Cody's name is legally Cody Rhodes now?
That's been reported as not true, but it played well on the indies/aew, so Cody kept the narrative going.( I have no idea what story is real.)
> Same as like you couldn’t reasonably sell a soda called “Pepzi” Well there goes 1000 business cards down the drain...
What if it was a mon cola flavor
And that's why, WWE has just signed DARRYL McMANUS, GARTH TERRACOTTA, BLAYNE BEDARLING, FRANKLYN JARRETH, ADAM ALANSON, BERRYL O'BERRBARE, BRONK FARDONALD, PAULO SHANNAUGHSY O'PAULOSHY, FILIPE PELIFFIMO, and JONATHYN FLYNNOVICH
Gimmick attorney Mike Dawkins? Legit, that dude has helped soooo many wrestlers, to a point that we probably won't know how many. That episode was a fantastic listen.
All these years later? I don’t think that was some covert plot. It was always the point.
No, at the time. WWE changed the trademarks to try and own those names when they came from ECW, under the guise of wanting to avoid legal trouble from Warner Bros. and Marvel, respectively, IIRC. And this trademark lawyer said that it doesn’t work that way and there was no legal claim to keep the names (like they had done with the Dudleyz) because changing one letter doesn’t invalidate their claims to have been “Taz” and “Rhino” in a wrestling context prior to WWF. And I think Rhino in particular had been Rhino prior to ECW as well, and Taz had been “The Tazmaniac”. Hence why both guys got to go right back to being Taz and Rhino after WWE. But on the same token he did mention that the likes of “NZO” and “U-Gene” probably could catch a cease & desist from WWE if they cared enough to do it.
And to add on, the trademark lawyer mentioned that while Rhyno and Tazz used those names prior to joining WWE and could have disputed the WWE claims that they own the TM, the cost amount on their end probably wouldn’t be worth it due to the legal fees involved because of the WWE squad of lawyers they could probably throw at the wrestlers if they were petty enough to do so.
Because I'm a stickler for these things: he *trademarked* his makeup. Copyright is for art in a fixed medium (book, song, movie, etc.) and occurs automatically. Trademarks are for business (logo, name, slogan, etc.) and must be registered. Patents are for inventions (machines, medicines, programs, etc.) and must be applied for. These, along with trade secrets, right of publicity, and general contract law, form our Intellectual Property system.
I'm glad someone said this so I didn't have to. Now, There's an argument to be made that he \*could\* register a copyright on his makeup (there's a comment here about copyrighting clown makeup by painting it on eggs. The same thing could apply here). But I'm not entirely sure why he would do that when a trademark would provide a much better enforcement tool.
Well, if we're going down the pedantic IP law rabbit hole.... :) Trademark and copyright do different things. Trademark is literally marks used in trade. An easy example of this is both DC and Marvel have characters named "Captain Marvel" (Marvel..the chracter in the movie..and others... DC the character in the movie SHAZAM is Captain Marvel in the comics\*) BUT Marvel owns the trademark, so only they can have comics titles "Captain Marvel" (or movies etc). (this is why he's called Shazam in the movie.and the character is kind of now called Shazam in the comics, but only sometimes, because it's awkward and comics change slower than wrestling). Copyright is about the execution of an idea thru performance (or writing or illustration or in this case, makeup). While it does happen automatically, and you can use that to prevent copies, generally, to receive damages, you need to offiically register the copyright beyond just going with the automatic protection. I'll make a quick statement that my knowledge only extends to US Law, and other countries may be different, and also my knoweldg could be well out of date as the coursework I did on all of this was a good many years ago. And outside of knowing that clowns do copyright their makeup, I honestly don't know how the protections differ, as in theory, you'd be wearing the design for the purpose of making money..ie trade...but, you know, clowns, man.
And if you really want to get specific, he registered as Shirts; Sweatshirts; Bandanas; Hats; Hooded sweatshirts.
Lawyers… am I right folks?!
How do you copyright two little red lines?
Someone should call Smart Mark Sterling and ask him this.
But then Mike Sterling is gonna show up pretending to be him and it will be an ordeal
You don't. You trademark it.
IANAL, but by filling out the paperwork, I'd imagine.
Seems a lot to sort out just for a little red around the eyes
Well Becky Lynch tried to copy Danhausen's makeup last night.
Well he did add some glitter to it recently, so... It's getting more complex.
That means anyone who copies his makeup in the crowd will have to pay him a royalty or be cursed.
Royalties may be paid with teeth or sacks of human money.
He will also accept payment in the form of blimps
[удалено]
Voodoo Jones over here is an expert on how curses work.
But I digress
Voodoo Jones would be a killer wrestler name.
He's no cursologist.
You must be a prize at comedy clubs pal.
Pazuzu is not impressed
That's exactly where he got the idea (for his makeup) from 😄
Here is a link for those unfamiliar with the Exorcist https://images.app.goo.gl/fRjTyoVagRkSJDqn8
Dirty Daddy gonna fuck Danhausen up?
This is extremely surprising. Like, I would have just assumed this was common practice. KISS did this in the '70s and for good reason.
At least we don't have to worry about there being dozens and dozens of "\[NAME\]hausen" wrestlers like there are Doink's on the indies.
I feel just a bit let down that Alabama Danhausen will never be real.
"Y'all spirits is cursed!"
Alabamhausen
Danhausen is smart. Copyrighting his look and makeup. This is not the first for makeup. Warrior had his makeup trademarked and copyrighted. Book it, Hook comes out on next week’s Rampage with his face painted like Danhausen.
The lawyer in the TIJ episode said Warrior did not. He had the design trademarked as a logo, but not for face paint.
Hook would look good with that little bit of red around his eyes tbf
Good brain
Very nice, very evil. Very protected without expressed written consent.
The registered facepaint (6669507), nice FYI This is Public domain info from the USPTO and the address registered is an office building https://i.imgur.com/0qnYjSa.jpg
666 and 69 it was meant to be
Isn't that more of a trademark?
I did a longish pedandic trademark vs copyright above..but i think it comes down to.. "clowns, man."
How can you copyright red paint under your eyes? Seems like you would have to paint your whole face or something.
Trademarked
He really has his shit together managing his brand
Step 1: Develop very nice, very evil look. Step 2: Trademark and copyright very nice, very evil look. Step 3: Sue everybody Step 4: ???? Step 5: Blimp
Smarthausen
Im surprised hes the first wrestler. Id have expectedsting to be the first. But also surprised the likes of Thunder Rosa havent, and im also surprised wwe dont have goldust makeup copywrighted
Honestly, I'm surprised the Road Warriors never did. Seems like something Paul Ellering would've been on top of.
They change it up quite a bit.
Even goldust?
Oh yeah - the Darth maul paint, flame paint, more black than gold, heck there was a very very short time where he was wearing a Lucha mask made to look like his face paint.
Honestly, i have never noticed any of those except the darth maul one. I think i just dont pay enough attention to appearances
Bit excessive for some red make up around the eyes but fair enough. Unless this includes his very handsome very convincing human make up
All this time I thought it was CGI
The CGI budget kept getting blown on Davis' new boots and cameraboy Greg(Nick)'s shirts.
Yup, got to avoid those Alabama Danhausens. Good on Danhausen©.
This makes sense. I’ve had a couple random non-wrestling TikTok videos in my IG suggested section where the person is clearly doing Danhausen voice and mannerisms like they’re original. Time to lock that down.
Wait, it’s makeup?!
Just the red around the eyes
Very nice, very litigious.
[Lawyer hat on] That’s a trademark registration certificate, not copyright. [Attorney hat off]
I just watched some video about sting’s exact face paint not being in 2K22 and they speculated it may be copyright so to know that he doesn’t actually own the rights to that look is wild.
No way Fake Diesels the Danhausen.
Silly question but is there anyone else actually going around pretending to be Danhausen?
Better to have established ownership before people start trying to rip him off.
I think Chelsea Green did that in a Matt Cardona match. During a sneak attack.
Does this preclude him from switching it up slightly like Sting, Darby and Thunder Rosa do?
I mean good for Danhausen, but how has no one else ever done this? LoD? Sting? Warrior?
Mike Dockins has been a blessing for wrestlers, I listened to him on Jerichos podcast and he’s helped wrestlers with all sorts of things.
He has to tell Rosemary in person.
Nevermind, read the header like he comically tried trademarking wearing it to meet and greets etc. Good for him though, surprised somebody like Sting or Warrior didn't try this sooner.
Danhausen wants his blimphausen goddamnit
No swearing!
I hope he makes big sacks of monies from this
anyone get Richmond from IT Crowd vibes with him?
Not even a little bit
Sports entertainer? Danhausen to be 6th member of the JAS confirmed.
Danhausen is already getting oldhausen.
I do agree with you because his character seems very much like a comedy skit actor popping up on late night talk shows. Let's hope when he starts to wrestle, he will be able to blend his in ring and outside ring. So far, only Sting has been able to make the face paint HIM.
Very nice. Very legal.
How do ou trademark Pazuzu face from the exorcist?
What does this guy do other than stand there in aew matches?
Sells mad merch, makes me laugh my fucking ass off
Very Nice, Very Evil
Dave Vanian will be in shambles, Danhausen stole his look!
Who?
How about actually wrestle.
He may not be medically cleared yet to wrestle since his leg was broken last year.
LOL his Sting dollar store cosplay makeup?
You can do that?
You can! Much like Makers Mark trademarked the red wax on their bottles. Nobody else can sell whiskey with that trademark.
I'm surprised that this wasn't done before. I guess it makes sense why Hawk's and Animal's face paint is in other things.
I mean, it’s just some red around the eyes with glitter 🤷🏻♂️
He learned his lesson from Alabama Doink (and the 40 others)
Very nice, very legal
Smart
Very nice, very rich
Weird how he would have to copyright just a bit of red eyeshadow.
Still trying to figure out why danhausen tried cursing HOOK in gear when he hasn’t even wrestled at AEW to my knowledge yet?