Demon Slayer Has Copyrights Rejected Once More Overseas
Demon Slayer's meteoric rise in popularity has been astonishing since it first debuted in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump in 2016, with the series having the most profitable anime movie ever released and its manga routinely outselling Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, but it seems as if the series created by Koyoharu Gotouge has run into a bit of snag. In a trademark case regarding the fashion style of Tanjiro, the young protagonist of the series seeking to eliminate demons while curing his sister of a demonic affliction, Shueisha was unable to lay claim to the design of the Demon Slayer's attire.
For those who might not be familiar with this case, back in June 2020, Shueisha had filed a trademark application with regards to the patterns of clothing for six of the main characters of Demon Slayer. Their reasoning, as documented by Huffington Post Japan, was as such:
"In order to prevent a large number of malicious piggyback products and illegal copy products that confuse fans and cause concern and protect the distribution of genuine products, the color/shape ratio derived from the work, designated products We have applied for a trademark of the design with a limited number of items."
While Shueisha was successful in regards to trademarking the attire patterns for a few characters from Demon Slayer, the black and green checkered design of Tanjiro remains outside of the company's grasp, with the Patent Office of Japan delivering a "decision of refusal" when it came to the company's trademark.
The Official "Decision of Refusal" from the JPO reads as such:
"The trademark of the present application is understood to be a kind of so-called "checkered pattern" in which black and green squares are arranged alternately and repeatedly and should fulfill the function of identifying own and other products.
There is a black line on the edge of the square trademark, but the black line is hard to recognize at first glance because there is no margin on the outside. The checkered pattern is familiar as a traditional pattern and is commonly used as a decorative pattern such as with clothing. Then, the trademark of the present application has the characteristics claimed by the applicant. Even if it does, the overall impression it gives the viewer cannot go beyond the commonly used decorative patterns."
What do you think of this legal blow to the company behind Demon Slayer and so many other Shonen series? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Tanjiro and the other members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
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