The Original 'Fashion Santa' Gets His Trademark After Mall Decides To Settle
from the jingle-all-the-way dept
'Twas last year before Christmas, just about one year past,
We wrote of "Fashion Santa," who disputed his task.
Hired by Yorkdale Mall, a Toronoto affair,
As a good looking Santa, to attract shoppers there
But in 2016, a year already weird
Fashion Santa retired, or so it appeared.
When the mall chose to hire a new sexy St. Nick
Fashion Santa said, "No!" for this was his shtick
He claimed that the character, whom ladies did like,
Was creative and thus covered by copyright
But Santa soon learned a basic IP lesson
You can't copyright ideas, only expression,
And Yorkdale Mall had for a trademark applied,
Should he go the same route, he'd be likely denied.
For that reason this writer assumed in his post,
That the mall would win... and Hot Santa would roast.
But even this writer can be wrong, on occasion
As it seems Fashion Santa prevailed -- (yes, amazin'!)
Paul Mason aka Toronto's FIRST famed Fashion Santa tells TMZ his legal battle with the Yorkdale Mall is over, and he got what he wanted. The OG gained international attention a few years ago when he did his thing, but when Yorkdale tried to trademark "Fashion Santa" ... Paul challenged in court.
Paul argued the trademark should be his because he's the only model people associate with the title, "Fashion Santa." He says they eventually settled out of court, and now he has the trademark.
And so after a year of legal back and forth
It seems the mall caved to the beau from the north.
And though legal folks think that the mall should have won
It was not worth their trouble, and so now this is done.
Mason gets his own trademark to ply his handsome craft
And the mall gets to put it away in the past.
We may question the mall's lack of backbone and fist
But perhaps they avoided Santa's naughty list.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copyright, fashion santa, paul mason, toronto, trademark
Companies: yorkdale mall
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hmm.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Asking for a friend.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Clowns
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Clowns
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Clowns
I think a better analogy would be the case of Giselle in Disney's Enchanted.
Snow White, Cinderella, Elsa & Anna, Rapunzel, etc. - their appearances originated with a pencil and paper. However, Giselle's appearance is (for obvious reasons) based on Amy Adams.
In order to include Giselle in the Disney Princess line, they would have had to pay Amy Adams extra for the rights to use her image in materials other than the movie itself, so they didn't.
Fashion Santa doesn't have a specific set of clothing he wears; there's no costume or mask. His appearance is based wholly upon the model's appearance.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Grabbed a pen within his fist
Wrote out a rhyme
And in that time
Told a story, about Santa, with a twist!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]