Althouse: "I don’t want anyone to try to grow a unibrow because of me and then try to make money off of it."

June 26, 2012

"I don’t want anyone to try to grow a unibrow because of me and then try to make money off of it."

"Me and my family decided to trademark it because it’s very unique.

20 comments:

Unknown said...: Frida Kahlo says, "Hi!"; 6/26/12, 8:54 AM
Mark O said...: Apparently, he's really that stupid.; 6/26/12, 8:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: How do you try to grow a unibrow?

Apparently, failing to pluck/wax is an effort.; 6/26/12, 8:57 AM
wyo sis said...: He's welcome to it. It may be a cash machine, but it's ugly. Fear it indeed.; 6/26/12, 9:02 AM
Saint Croix said...: Frida Kahlo says, "Hi!"

Yeah, exactly, she owns the unibrow.

You could make a pretty bad B movie about Frida Kahol's unibrow arising from her grave and going out onto the basketball court and strangling Anthony Davis for his impertinance.; 6/26/12, 9:10 AM
Saint Croix said...: I don't know who Frida Kahol is, but she's ugly, too.; 6/26/12, 9:11 AM
wyo sis said...: Cavemen everywhere are gearing up for the court battle.; 6/26/12, 9:20 AM
traditionalguy said...: If Turley sees this post he will complain that it is not high brow enough for him.; 6/26/12, 9:24 AM
Petunia said...: I'd go see that movie, St. Croix!

I didn't initially hear of this kid for his unibrow. I heard of him because on senior night, he benched himself several times, even though he could have scored more points and made himself a better candidate for player of the year, so that a senior on the team could have more playing time during his final home game.

So...even if he's being kind of silly about trademarking the unibrow, he seems to be a decent guy.; 6/26/12, 10:15 AM
edutcher said...: Sorry, but this is why black people need to be told, "No", once in a while regardless of how racist they think it is.

Same concept as telling your wife the truth when she asks, "Does this make me look fat?".

It may hurt her feelings, but only if she would rather go out and have people laugh at her because Hubbo didn't let her know what she was wearing looked bad.; 6/26/12, 10:27 AM
tim maguire said...: IP laws in this country have become insane and sometimes demean us as a people (trademarking "fear the brow" isn't nearly the worst, not even just this year).

Frida Kahlo is a (deceased) Stalinist artist who continued being a Stalinist even after learning about the Gulag, even after Stalin had one of her best friends murdered. She's also a feminist icon.; 6/26/12, 10:35 AM
tim maguire said...: Should I note that the great friend who Stalin had murdered was Trotsky. Didn't bother her much, apparently.; 6/26/12, 10:37 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: IP laws in this country have become insane and sometimes demean us as a people (trademarking "fear the brow" isn't nearly the worst, not even just this year).

I wouldn't go that far, and I will note that the unibrow, per se, is not what they have apparently tried to protect, but the phrases “Fear The Brow” and “Raise The Brow”. I don't see this as really all that much worse than the reality that McDonald's essentially claims any food name that starts with "Mc" or Apple with words starting with "i".

In the end, the quality of the mark revolves around its ability to identify a product, service, or, really provider of such. If you hear about a new food out called a McX, where X is some word related to food, do you think about McDonalds. Most here, I think would. New electronic gadgets starting with a lower case "i" are maybe a bit more problematic for Apple, though they keep trying. We shall see how well these "brow" marks hold up, and that probably depends on how well he plays.; 6/26/12, 11:19 AM
MadisonMan said...: Me and my family decided

Points off for grammar.; 6/26/12, 11:37 AM
tim maguire said...: Bruce Hayden said...I wouldn't go that far, and I will note that the unibrow, per se, is not what they have apparently tried to protect

We'll have to agree to disagree on the first statement. Not sure why you felt the need to make the second.

I also take issue with your examples. Apple has no rights to the "i". In fact, they are the defendant in a lawsuit over it right now and their best argument (should they decide to make it) is that the "i" is unprotectable. If anyone has rights to it, it is not Apple.

McDonald's has spent many years and many millions building the "Mc" as a recognizable brand. This unibrow fellow has done no such thing.

The more apt comparison is "Linsanity." Jeremy Lin did not coin Linsanity, he did not popularize Linsanity. But he wants it all to himself.

"Fear the Brow", like "Linsanity" is an attempt to privatize a cultural moment. Something our IP laws make far too easy, and encourage far too much, to the detriment of the public it is supposedly meant to protect. Thus my original disagreement with you.; 6/26/12, 11:50 AM
damikesc said...: Didn't The Rock corner the market on eyebrow movements? This kid is a pretender.

And Frida was a useful idiot. One of many.; 6/26/12, 12:10 PM
Synova said...: That's one finely groomed looking unibrow. ;-)

In any case, I don't know what the problem is if a guy has a bushy single eyebrow. Most of the time they look far sillier if they've had it waxed.; 6/26/12, 4:57 PM
joated said...: This kid better be really talented on the court, 'cause he's an idiot in many ways.; 6/26/12, 6:18 PM
Unknown said...: MadisonMan said...
Me and my family decided

Points off for grammar

and for qualifying a superlative.; 6/27/12, 7:26 AM
netmarcos said...: One of my good friends has a single eyebrow - aka unibrow. He used to have two eyebrows, but now he shaves the top one...; 6/27/12, 10:26 AM