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Adult Website Cosplay Deviants Relinquishes Trademark of 'Cosplay is NOT Consent' Phrase
posted on by Karen Ressler
Cosplay Deviants CEO Troy Doerner announced on Tuesday that he has legally abandoned the trademark for the phrase "Cosplay is NOT Consent." The trademark went into effect on November 22, 2016 and was surrendered on Tuesday.
The phrase emerged as early as 2011 to address sexual harassment directed at cosplayers. Conventions have frequently used the phrase in recent years as part of harassment policies.
Doerner said in a statement last week that his team registered the www.CosplayIsNotConsent.org domain name in 2013 "with the intent of growing the conversation" around how cosplayers are treated. He claimed his decision to trademark the phrase came after a convention requested to buy the domain and copyright the phrase. "I started the process to trademark the phrase itself with the intent to make sure it wasn't leveraged for profit," he said.
In his statement on Tuesday, Doerner addressed the reason for his decision to relinquish the trademark. "The attention brought to the Cosplay is NOT Consent movement with this could have been an opportunity to bring the issue to the spotlight again," he said. "Instead, it got turned into a conversation - not about the movement - but about the opinions about me, my business, and my motivations."
Doerner said he would continue to participate in the movement.
Cosplay Deviants bills itself as an adult entertainment website with a focus on cosplay. The website features forums and cosplayer blogs.
