The man who 3-D printed and sold “Left Shark” figurines isn’t going to bow down to requests from singer Katy Perry’s lawyers to stop offering them.
Fernando Sosa received a cease-and-desist letter last week from Perry’s legal representatives, demanding that he stop selling figures based on one of the backup dancing sharks from her Super Bowl halftime show.
Sosa, who typically prints and sells sculptures based on politicians, had said he was going to abide by the order because “all this lawyer crap is very stressful.”
On Monday, he announced that he had changed course, had retained legal counsel and was going to fight Team Perry.
“Usually when it comes to small business owners, when the lawyers come after you the outcome is usually pretty predictable. Lawyer sends you a threatening letter and in fear of legal action you do whatever the lawyer tells you to do,” Sosa wrote in a blog post.
“I decided to finally take a stand and break the usual cycle of rolling over or giving into legal threats.”
Sosa’s reps claim, among other things, that costumes cannot be copyrighted and that the NFL may have had more control over the halftime show than Perry did, based on an interview she gave.
“Going ahead with these dubious copyright claims will not benefit Katy Perry,” Sosa’s lawyer, Chris Sprigman, wrote in a letter to Perry’s legal team.
Sosa plans to keep selling the shark figures for the time being.
Perry’s lawyers have not responded to requests for comment.