Danica Davidson
October 5, 2021 
Publisher Shueisha is interested in getting trademarks on some of the clothing pattern designs from Demon Slayer main characters. In June of last year, they filed for trademarks on Tanjiro Kamado, Nezuko Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, Giyu Tomioka, Shinobu Kocho, and Kyojuro Rengoku. They said they wanted these trademarks because of all the illegal merchandise and cheap ripoffs being made.
They’ve gotten mixed results. A year after their request, in June 2021, they did get the trademarks for Giyu Tomioka, Shinobu Kocho, and Kyojuro Rengoku’s patterns. But they did not get the trademarks for Tanjiro Kamado, Nezuko Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma.
Shueisha disagreed with this part and appealed. Their appeal was rejected last month.
In explaining its decision, the Japan Patent Office said that Tanjiro’s pattern is found all over the place, so there’s no way to put a trademark to a generic pattern like that. Shueisha disagreed, saying that Tanjiro’s clothes aren’t just a regular pattern, and that the mix of squares and triangles, plus the black outlines, made it unique. This argument did not sway the Japan Patent Office. Though the Japan Patent Office acknowledged the black borders Shueisha was talking about, it ultimately said that this distinction wasn’t immediately obvious, and it’s not distinguishable enough to get its own trademark.
Shueisha has the option to appeal again, and a three-month time frame in which they can do it. They might be concerned about people using Tanjiro-like imagery in other ways, like when some Japanese politicians used a similar Tanjiro pattern and writing style on their posters. At that point, Weekly Shonen Jump distanced itself from the politicians, “We have seen a politician’s posters use Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba imagery, however neither Shueisha nor the Weekly Shonen Jump Editorial Department were in any way connected to it.”
This is also part of a bigger talk about copyrights and fandom.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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