KISS frontman Gene Simmons recently filed an application for a trademark on a hand gesture, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Below is the drawing that's included in the application.

Simmons claims this hand gesture was first used in commerce on November 14th, 1974, which appears to correspond with KISS’ Hotter Than Hell tour. The report states that the hand gesture appears quite similar to what's known as the "Sign of the horns," a devil signal that, according to an entertaining entry from Wikipedia, dates back to the 5th Century BC founder of Buddhism. It's also the American Sign Language gesture for "I love you." Simmons is claiming the hand gesture mark for "entertainment, namely, live performances by a musical artist; personal appearances by a musical artist."

In a recent interview with the Ouch You're On My Hair podcast, drummer Vinny Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell) weighed in on Simmons' claim:

According to a June 21st report from Forbes.com, "Simmons has apparently reconsidered whether he might have valid trademark rights to the hand gesture, as he expressly abandoned the application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office." Read the complete report here.

Wendy Dio, the widow of late metal legend Ronnie James Dio, commented on Simmons' application when the news went public..

“To try to make money off of something like this is disgusting,” Wendy Dio told TheWrap. “It belongs to everyone; it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s a public domain; it shouldn’t be trademarked.”

Dio doesn’t believe that her husband should be credited with the gesture either. As she noted, the singer, who died in 2010, adopted the hand gesture from an old Italian sign that he picked up from his grandmother, which is used to either ward off evil or give the evil eye, depending on how it’s employed.

Wendy also noted that the rock band Coven used the hand gesture, as displayed on the cover of the group’s 1969 debut album, while the cartoon version of John Lennon flashes a similar sign on the cover of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine album, released in 1969.

Read more at TheWrap.