Bayside Tells The Whitest Lie

Bayside made us all think twice before tattooing some bands logo on ourselves.  Here’s why: Bayside’s Shudderbird logo, iconic and on the cover of a bunch of their releases, and also boldly on Anthony Raneri’s neck, was said to be no longer theirs to use.  A Mexican Telecommunications company took the logo back in 2009, and Raneri posted about it on his blog.  Regardless, he didn’t think it important enough to trademark it and do something about it.  Now, that Mexican company was said to have trademarked the Shudderbird, and Bayside couldn’t use it anymore.

Countless fans and everyone in the band has it tattooed on them somewhere, which is pretty unfortunate.  However, you can’t help but watch the announcement video and think that maybe it’s all an elaborate joke- oh, wait, that’s exactly what it is.  That at least seemed to be a lot of people’s impression. They claimed it’s an April Fool’s joke, to mess with the fan base.  I found this a much more viable thing- especially seeing a man who claims to be a lawyer posting on the video saying, “I can tell you that they would not need to get a “Trademark” for their logo. As a matter of fact, the bird logo appears on their album artwork and in the United States album artwork is claimed by “Copyright” under the category of “Sound Recordings”. This is basic music law and after a search of the governments copyright records you will notice a few approved copyright applications by Bayside and Victory Records. Therefore, the logo is protected by copyright…their first mistake was stating that they needed a trademark. Also, since they have been selling other merchandise such as clothing with the logo on it then they most certainly have the rights to use it, so you can all relax.”

Finally, some clarity.  It’s a hoax ok, haha you got us, but you can’t help but have felt a little bit nervous when the announcement first came out; and if you watch the video of the announcement, they’re all pretty stoic and emotionless, and it kind of just feels like a big joke.  This little joke of them messing with us was pretty clever, just don’t ever scare us like that again.