The Original 'Fashion Santa' Gets His Trademark After Mall Decides To Settle

Trademark

from the jingle-all-the-way dept

Thu, Dec 21st 2017 1:29pm — Timothy Geigner

'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.

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Filed Under: copyright, fashion santa, paul mason, toronto, trademark
Companies: yorkdale mall

14 Comments

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kallethen, 21 Dec 2017 @ 1:33pm

Tim, you have won my internets today. That was brilliant.
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orbitalinsertion (profile), 21 Dec 2017 @ 2:53pm

OK, so he stopped being Fashion Santa, but now has the trademark.

Hmm.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Dec 2017 @ 3:36pm

*Slow Clap*
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ralph_the_bus_driver (profile), 21 Dec 2017 @ 4:31pm

Is the term "Fashion Cop" copyrighted?

Asking for a friend.
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Bergman (profile), 21 Dec 2017 @ 5:38pm

Clowns
Clowns hold copyrights in their specific costumes, so I imagine this would be pretty much the same thing.
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FU, 21 Dec 2017 @ 5:46pm

Gawd that was annoying to read. Stop wasting my time with shit like this. Write properly.
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Anon, 22 Dec 2017 @ 1:09am

Timothy G, a good journalist
Grabbed a pen within his fist
Wrote out a rhyme
And in that time
Told a story, about Santa, with a twist!
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I.T. Guy, 22 Dec 2017 @ 5:10am

That was awesome. Bravo Tim.
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I.T. Guy, 22 Dec 2017 @ 5:11am

Re:
Gawd... you do see the irony in your statement no?
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ralph_the_bus_driver (profile), 22 Dec 2017 @ 7:39am

Re: Clowns
McDonald's and Burger King own the copy rights to their respective clowns, Ronald and The King, Dos Equis owns the Most Interesting Man in the World, and Progressive Insurance owns Flo. Even though we associate specific actors to the last two, it is still the characters that are copyrighted.
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ralph_the_bus_driver (profile), 22 Dec 2017 @ 7:40am

Re:
... to which some are pretty pissed.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Dec 2017 @ 11:31am

Can this article get funniest of the week?
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Dec 2017 @ 11:45am

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.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Dec 2017 @ 11:46am

Re:
Nice rhyming, but work on your meter a bit.
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