# 3D Design / 3D Scanning / 3D Modeling > 3D Printing Gallery >  3D Printed Left Shark from Katy Perry's Halftime performance

## Eddie

PoliticalSculptor (Fernando Sosa) is at it again.  This time he has created the latest internet sensation, Left Shark.  For those that don't know, Left Shark was the dancing shark in Katy Perry's halftime show that appeared as though he was drunk.  His dance moves seem to be off, and he didn't seem as though he knew what he was doing.  Turns out it was all planned, but still. Left Shark has been embedded in history as an internet meme.  Read and see more about Sosa's creation of Left Shark at: http://3dprint.com/42133/super-bowl-left-shark-meme

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## 3dxyz

"bring to life these characters in a cartoon manner, giving them a Tweedledee/Tweedledum-type persona,"

Have these people ever actually met a real a shark face to face? lol

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## mstyle183

thanks for writing about this!

if you guys like to stay informed about this #3dLeftshark fiasco please follow me at 

http://instagram.com/mstyle183
or 
http://facebook.com/politicalsculptor
or
http://twitter.com/politicalsculpt

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## iDig3Dprinting

This is wrong on so many levels, least of all the concept of dancing sharks and palm trees.

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## RAMTechRob

Yeah, too bad the guy has to steal other people's ideas and sell them for profit.  Sleazebag.

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## Bassna

> Yeah, too bad the guy has to steal other people's ideas and sell them for profit.  Sleazebag.


It's a shark....

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## 3dxyz

> Yeah, too bad the guy has to steal other people's ideas and sell them for profit.  Sleazebag.


Why is he the sleazebag for Rob? Or are you being sarcastic?

All this guy done is created something on his 3D printer that he liked.

It is Katy Perry's lawyers that are the sleazebags here! Giant multirich companies stamping on little kids and their new toys.

What Sosa done is helping to create awareness of 3D printers.

Jesus, it's not like the guy robbed a bank and killed a couple old ladies in the process.

All he done was created a 3D version of a drunk dancing shark he saw on TV.

I'm not quite sure how that makes him the sleaze bag.

It's these giant corporations that are the miserable sleaze bags here.

IMHO.

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## mstyle183

> Why is he the sleazebag for Rob? Or are you being sarcastic?
> 
> All this guy done is created something on his 3D printer that he liked.
> 
> It is Katy Perry's lawyers that are the sleazebags here! Giant multirich companies stamping on little kids and their new toys.
> 
> What Sosa done is helping to create awareness of 3D printers.
> 
> Jesus, it's not like the guy robbed a bank and killed a couple old ladies in the process.
> ...


thanks!.. seems like people are now attacking me not because they dont agree with me or don't like #3dleftshark ... but because they don't agree with my political beliefs and how outspoken i am about them. However, i don't care about these people. The lion doesn't concern or cares what the sheep think.

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## curious aardvark

Alas I slept through the half time show. 
And watching the superbowl on british tv is no fun. 
We don't ghet the adverts so what you end up with is  3 hours of studio discussuion interspersed with the odd bit of american football. hell they don't even show the cheerleaders. 

So I was looking forward to the half time show lol
But the rest of the program was so boring I fell asleep. 

So this shark thing is famous then ? 




> The lion doesn't concern or cares what the sheep think.


We've got some pretty tough sheep in the yorkshire dales. ;-)

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## 3dxyz

> thanks!.. seems like people are now attacking me not because they dont agree with me or don't like #3dleftshark ... but because they don't agree with my political beliefs and how outspoken i am about them. However, i don't care about these people. The lion doesn't concern or cares what the sheep think.


Oh are you Sosa then? They just hating on you because they didnt think of it first. Haters gonna hate. But now you got to use the steam to power your dreams.

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## RAMTechRob

> Oh are you Sosa then? They just hating on you because they didnt think of it first. Haters gonna hate. But now you got to use the steam to power your dreams.



I would never think of stealing someones idea and then selling it for profit.It gives 3D printing a bad name and is immoral.  But since this generation is all about getting something for free, then I guess its alright until you get something stolen from you.

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## BodaciousAcquisition

Although those are some generic looking sharks, *Katy Perry's lawyers are right.* 

Without the show, without Katy Perry nobody would have cared for those things in the first place.

Her team build it and she is the one who made it famous and brought it to the public thus holding the automatic “*intellectual property*” on it, regardless of how generic or dull it may seem. 

So it is obvious that everybody who wants to use this *popularity for his personal gain* gets a cease and desist letter. She is the license holder so nobody except her is allowed to make “*money*” with it.

I don't know why so many people are struggling with this, if its not your idea / work don't sell it, unless you've asked the copyright holder for a license. 

If you cannot get a license, build models from your own ideas and make it popular. 

It's really that SIMPLE.

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## 3dxyz

> I would never think of stealing someones idea and then selling it for profit.It gives 3D printing a bad name and is immoral.  But since this generation is all about getting something for free, then I guess its alright until you get something stolen from you.


I see what you're point is about intellectual property. But with 3D printing at the moment everyone is cloning everything from left sharks to left testicles.

If he would have made it free it probably wouldnt have been an issue but that just goes to show you how greedy these fat cat music moguls are.

What about all those left shark mugs and keyrings on eBay?

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## Bassna

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:673620

My left shark remix :P

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## Marm

Seeing as it's a shark, I'd assume without a specific copyright on the exact model of shark, there is no IP here.  

Apple Computers doesn't own all apples in existence, just their copyrighted logo.

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## BodaciousAcquisition

> Seeing as it's a shark, I'd assume without a specific copyright on the exact model of shark, there is no IP here. 
> 
> Apple Computers doesn't own all apples in existence, just their copyrighted logo.


@ Marm 

I don't think that is true, since the “Copyright Act of 1976”  every work that is created after January 1, 1978 is automatically protected 
regardless of how generic it is, thus you don't need a special registration application to protect it. That doesn't mean that she holds 
the copyright on every shark known to mankind, but that one in particular.

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## Marm

Well since Bassna's sharks don't have mouth's, are not blue, and can't dance, I see no resemblance to the sharks from the game.  Therefore no copyright infringement.

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## RAMTechRob

> I see what you're point is about intellectual property. But with 3D printing at the moment everyone is cloning everything from left sharks to left testicles.
> 
> If he would have made it free it probably wouldnt have been an issue but that just goes to show you how greedy these fat cat music moguls are.
> 
> What about all those left shark mugs and keyrings on eBay?


If its for your personal use, then go ahead and do it.  Once you add a price to it, it is thievery.  Its a very simple concept.

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## Bassna

> If its for your personal use, then go ahead and do it.  Once you add a price to it, it is thievery.  Its a very simple concept.


So by that logic, I would not be aloud to sell my Lion model, because Katy perry featured a Lion in her performance, hindering anybody from doing anything with Lion model's (or shark) ever again for profit?

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## BodaciousAcquisition

> So by that logic, I would not be aloud to sell my Lion model, because Katy perry featured a Lion in her performance, hindering anybody from doing anything with Lion model's (or shark) ever again for profit?


@Bassna

It was said before,that she doesn't own the copyright on “every” shark, lion known to mankind, but the ones in that particular show.

Its about distinctiveness, the moment she showed it to the public she gained an automatic copyright, since the “Copyright Act of 1976”.

These laws are very reasonable, imagine you share some images or 3D models for free. You put a lot of effort into creating them, and other people just take them to make a profit and even have the audacity not to ask for permission.

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## RAMTechRob

> So by that logic, I would not be aloud to sell my Lion model, because Katy perry featured a Lion in her performance, hindering anybody from doing anything with Lion model's (or shark) ever again for profit?



If it looks like her Lion or Shark from the show, then you won;t be able to sell it.  Do you print out Pepsi signs and sell them?

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## Feign

So by _that_ logic, this guy could sue Katy Perry for using a low-poly tiger to make (boatloads of) profit.

There is a _legal process_ to getting an actual copyright, and there's no evidence (that I've seen so far) that Katy Perry or her lawyers have gone through the process for copyrighting deformed cartoon sharks.

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## BodaciousAcquisition

> So by _that_ logic, this guy could sue Katy Perry for using a low-poly tiger to make (boatloads of) profit.
> 
> There is a _legal process_ to getting an actual copyright, and there's no evidence (that I've seen so far) that Katy Perry or her lawyers have gone through the process for copyrighting deformed cartoon sharks.


   NO, he could not.  

1. first of all, that Thingiverse model is a tiger, Katy Perry's is a lion
 2. his model doesn't have eyes, hers have glowy ones
 3. his model has an entirely different neck, tail and ears
 4. the triangulation on his model is entirely different
 5. his one is blue, whiles hers has a metal color finish

There is probably more to it, but you get the point.  

As an analogy to the case mentioned in the article, you could say this:
 Imagine a person robbing a bank, after he gets caught by the police he thinks he is in the right to sell the loot, because he put a lot of effort into getting it. Thats ridiculous, but thats the position the person mentioned in the article is in right now.

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## Bassna

> So by _that_ logic, this guy could sue Katy Perry for using a low-poly tiger to make (boatloads of) profit.
> 
> There is a _legal process_ to getting an actual copyright, and there's no evidence (that I've seen so far) that Katy Perry or her lawyers have gone through the process for copyrighting deformed cartoon sharks.


I wouldn't even call it deformed. It's the most basic generic shark you could think of, as a costume (and from what I have read, costume's can't be copyrighted?)

I do wonder how all this will turn out though.

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## BodaciousAcquisition

> I wouldn't even call it deformed. It's the most basic generic shark you could think of, as a costume (and from what I have read, costume's can't be copyrighted?)
> 
> I do wonder how all this will turn out though.


You cannot copyright clothing as for example a stage dress or your daily outfit, you can however copyright a costume as for example: SpiderMan, Ironman, DarthVader and so on.

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## Bassna

> You cannot copyright clothing as for example a stage dress or your daily outfit, you can however copyright a costume as for example: SpiderMan, Ironman, DarthVader and so on.


All 3 of those example's I could completely understand if someone made a 3D model of and was selling. But not a generic shark with legs.

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## Feign

Even those three examples, you can copyright the character concept if you can prove that you indeed originated that concept.  In fact, with the Marvel characters you mentioned there are multiple copyrights, covering graphic elements of the characters and therefore products derived from those characters.  The copyright documents often read like "graphic black spider element with elongated legs for use on the chest of a character's costume" and "Red and blue web pattern with central points on the center of mask and center of chest."  Otherwise there is a pretty good chance of someone coming forth with previous art to invalidate your copyright claim.  Also, you can copyright a character _name_, which is the route most content makers take.

Copyright filings cost a non-trivial amount of money, and copyright challenges are practically free.  It is _highly unlikely_ that a lawyer in his right mind would put together a copyright claim for "Blue Cartoon Shark with legs" or the name "Left Shark".

EDIT: the issue of Marvel and copyrights is something kind of near and dear to my heart from my days playing _City of Heroes_ and following the attempted Marvel lawsuit against the game in its early days.

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## RAMTechRob

So you are saying that stealing someone's hard work is OK, if they haven;t done the legal paperwork to protect it?

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## ram3d

Just wait till Halloween. I'm sure there will be tons of people dressing like Left Shark. I wonder how Katy Perry's legal team will deal with that.

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## BodaciousAcquisition

> _Even those three examples, you can copyright the character concept if you can prove that you indeed originated that concept.  In fact, with the Marvel characters you mentioned there are multiple copyrights, covering graphic elements of the characters and therefore products derived from those characters.  The copyright documents often read like "graphic black spider element with elongated legs for use on the chest of a character's costume" and "Red and blue web pattern with central points on the center of mask and center of chest."  Otherwise there is a pretty good chance of someone coming forth with previous art to invalidate your copyright claim.  Also, you can copyright a character name, which is the route most content makers take.
> 
> Copyright filings cost a non-trivial amount of money, and copyright challenges are practically free.  It is highly unlikely that a lawyer in his right mind would put together a copyright claim for "Blue Cartoon Shark with legs" or the name "Left Shark".
> 
> EDIT: the issue of Marvel and copyrights is something kind of near and dear to my heart from my days playing City of Heroes and following the attempted Marvel lawsuit against the game in its early days_.


I understand what you mean, but they somehow managed to do it, otherwise they wouldn't have send that person a cease and desist letter. One could argue about whether they were bluffing to make him bow out, but that's all speculation.

But something similar comes to mind, look at all those Pokemon and 3D printing related cases. A Pokemon isn't really more detailed then LeftShark, but a lot of people who were selling and even those on Thingiverse got cease and desist letters for sharing Pokemon "*related*" things.




> _Just wait till Halloween. I'm sure there will be tons of people dressing like Left Shark. I wonder how Katy Perry's legal team will deal with that._


Why should they do anything about it ? 

As long as someone without a license isn't trying to deliberately make a profit with it,they won't do anything at all.

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## curious aardvark

I just wonder how right shark feels about all this. 

he worked just as hard, and nobody's stealing his image. Poor sharky :-(

Oh but wait ! 
What if all the models on the internet were actually right shark's twin brother: didn't-make-it-to-the-show shark, and not left shark at all ! 

Basically the whole thing is ridiculous.

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## SarahA

Right Shark is probably too busy having a dance party to be bothered much... in fact, he's probably breaking it down with Left Shark, because they are some fun-loving shark dancers who aren't fussed by the lawyers' party (different kinds of sharks).

Really, though, it would surely be a better PR move for Katy Perry's people to just accept that Left Shark is extremely marketable and popular, and maybe partner up with designers who want to immortalize the little guy, or at least give them the thumbs-up. Somehow I don't think her candy empire will topple through the fault of 3D printed figures from the half-time show. Let's face it, I love Left Shark as much as the next casual Super Bowl watcher, but will probably have forgotten about him by the time the next season of Doctor Who airs.

I hope Perry's lawyers calm down... though that isn't really the shark-lawyer way.
Or maybe get with a designer (Sosa's designs look perfect to me!) to create official Left Shark merch to capitalize on this while they can. It's not a huge time window, probably.

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## BodaciousAcquisition

> Really, though, it would surely be a better PR move for Katy Perry's people to just accept that Left Shark is extremely marketable and popular, and maybe partner up with designers who want to immortalize the little guy, or at least give them the thumbs-up. Somehow I don't think her candy empire will topple through the fault of 3D printed figures from the half-time show. Let's face it, I love Left Shark as much as the next casual Super Bowl watcher, but will probably have forgotten about him by the time the next season of Doctor Who airs.
> 
> I hope Perry's lawyers calm down... though that isn't really the shark-lawyer way.
> Or maybe get with a designer (Sosa's designs look perfect to me!) to create official Left Shark merch to capitalize on this while they can. It's not a huge time window, probably.


LeftShark already has a designer, the team who made the concept and costume for that show, so why do you think she should partner up with a “ new or different ” one ?

Every business strives for quality, so in the event that she wants to commercialize it, her team of professionals do the work and not some random people on the Internet, who lack certain principals of quality management.

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## Brian_Krassenstein

After much ado, 3D designer Fernando Sosa’s Left Shark is for sale again on Shapeways. 3D printing enthusiasts better catch him while they can though, as Shapeways awaits what is most likely a properly formatted DMCA takedown letter which will force them to beach the 3D model of the popular shark again. In an ongoing legal skirmish, the 3D model has been at the center of what could be an intellectual property battle. Find out the latest in the full article: http://3dprint.com/46212/left-shark-is-back/


Below is a photo of the returned Left Shark:

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## mstyle183

> After much ado, 3D designer Fernando Sosa’s Left Shark is for sale again on Shapeways. 3D printing enthusiasts better catch him while they can though, as Shapeways awaits what is most likely a properly formatted DMCA takedown letter which will force them to beach the 3D model of the popular shark again. In an ongoing legal skirmish, the 3D model has been at the center of what could be an intellectual property battle. Find out the latest in the full article: http://3dprint.com/46212/left-shark-is-back/
> 
> 
> Below is a photo of the returned Left Shark:


Thanks for covering this story again... I want to make clear a couple of things. You can check updates on this case at politicalsculptor.blogspot.com.

My lawyer Christopher Jon Sprigman professor at New York University school of law has responded to Katy Perry Lawyer's twice. Katy Perry has yet to reply to our second letter and has yet to prove copyright on this un copyrightable shark outfit. 

Like i said I went into this because i wanted a left shark for myself and if it sold and made a couple of bucks that would be even better. I didn't go into this trying to steal money out the pockets of Katy Perry or her lawyers and i honestly didn't think you could copyright props like beach balls, palm trees and shark outfit. I complied with Katy Perry's lawyers nastygram aka cease and desist without any legal backing. I contacted her lawyers to get a licensing deal or offer royalties but i was not given such opportunity. I only thought about fighting this fight after many lawyers including my lawyer advice me that Katy Perry cannot copyright an outfit or usable item. Mickey and spiderman are very different cases because the spiderman and mickey mouse were copyrighted before making large outfits and halloween clothing. However, these lawyers did not expect this backup dancer to go viral hence probably never copyrighted anything.

This case is worth fighting for me because this is an issue where lawyers and corporations are trying to privatize socially created ideas and shutting out artists, small business and entrepreneurs. Many companies have attempted to do so by trademarking can't Breathe, Je Suis Charlie and internet memes. This kind of stuff will hinder the raise of the creative and makers class just like patent trolling is hindering technology.. 

http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/le...l#.VOij77DF9TN

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## RAMTechRob

Well, hopefully you got your 15 minutes of fame you wanted.  Now get back to making the butt plugs you were first famous for!!

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## mstyle183

> Well, hopefully you got your 15 minutes of fame you wanted.  Now get back to making the butt plugs you were first famous for!!


I saw your other comments so I'm going to take your comment is not sincere.. fyI.. I'm famous for my 3D printed throne iPhone dock.. I'm famous for my 3D printed Chris Christie featured in national TV and websites all over the nation.. And yes I'm famous for my Putin, Kim Jong Un buttplugs etc all over the world.. Not to mention the hundreds of iPhone cases I have sold and created..  So this is not my 15 minutes of fame.. Not even close .. I been here and done that. And this will not be the last time you see my name in the news..

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## BodaciousAcquisition

> Well, hopefully you got your 15 minutes of fame you wanted.  Now get back to making the butt plugs you were first famous for!!


No need to get worked up about, eventually he'll learn that stealing is wrong. He can struggle all he wants, but nobody is above the law. 
His promotion tour of this case to make him look like the victim doesn't help him in court either. 

I am more interested in how he's gonna manage to repay all the damage he has caused + lawyer costs, that's probably not cheap.

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## DBFIU

> Thanks for covering this story again... I want to make clear a couple of things. You can check updates on this case at politicalsculptor.blogspot.com.
> 
> My lawyer Christopher Jon Sprigman professor at New York University school of law has responded to Katy Perry Lawyer's twice. Katy Perry has yet to reply to our second letter and has yet to prove copyright on this un copyrightable shark outfit. 
> 
> Like i said I went into this because i wanted a left shark for myself and if it sold and made a couple of bucks that would be even better. I didn't go into this trying to steal money out the pockets of Katy Perry or her lawyers and i honestly didn't think you could copyright props like beach balls, palm trees and shark outfit. I complied with Katy Perry's lawyers nastygram aka cease and desist without any legal backing. I contacted her lawyers to get a licensing deal or offer royalties but i was not given such opportunity. I only thought about fighting this fight after many lawyers including my lawyer advice me that Katy Perry cannot copyright an outfit or usable item. Mickey and spiderman are very different cases because the spiderman and mickey mouse were copyrighted before making large outfits and halloween clothing. However, these lawyers did not expect this backup dancer to go viral hence probably never copyrighted anything.
> 
> This case is worth fighting for me because this is an issue where lawyers and corporations are trying to privatize socially created ideas and shutting out artists, small business and entrepreneurs. Many companies have attempted to do so by trademarking can't Breathe, Je Suis Charlie and internet memes. This kind of stuff will hinder the raise of the creative and makers class just like patent trolling is hindering technology.. 
> 
> http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/le...l#.VOij77DF9TN


I dont think they are trying to copyright the shark outfit. The entire set at the show, which includes the sharks, the idea of the 'left shark' being slow and drunk, the beach balls etc... Together form the copyright, which was her performance. I dont think you get it, your lawyers will find out though. Who came up with the idea of the left shark? You or Katy? Her idea, her earnings. Just letting you know how it's going to work out.

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## Brian_Krassenstein

Katy Perry was recently denied trademark rights of Left Shark, her drunkenly dancing sidekick at the Super Bowl who was then reproduced in 3D printing by Fernando Sosa, and since is everywhere, from memes to t-shirts—and even tattoos. The trademark was denied for this initial request as the shark is just not thought to be specific enough or detailed enough to be connected directly to her, although the phrase ‘Left Shark’ may later be allowed in trademark if she can be more specific. Find out more about this latest ruling in the full story: http://3dprint.com/60159/left-shark-trademark-denied/

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