I’ve been jokingly referred to as the “before” photo of a makeover by my best friend, one of my columns was once a diary entry from the most boring millennial ever, but I think there’s little more painful than an official European body talking about you judges that your face is not special enough. Jan Smit, folk singer and presenter, is “just a face in the crowd” beyond national borders. So his head cannot be registered as a trademark, as he had wanted for years, the European Intellectual Property Office ruled. He got the lid on his way too normal nose.
Jan Smit, a name that an American screenwriter would come up with if they wanted ‘a Dutchman’ in their story, too ordinary! Who could have imagined that? Not Smit himself, he and his management had been working for some time to ensure that no one could use his head for their advertising campaigns. God, there it will be soon, they thought, our Jan, just promoting telephones in Slovakia or on a soup can in Spain, hmmmm muy delicioso! That will be a battlefield!
Of course, that Spanish soup is not eaten as hot as it is served and it is all a very technical legal story, a bit of security for a famous person on top of the portrait rights that we all have. But, said Bas Kist of trademark agency Chiever in return for RTL News: even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi do not have the trademark rights that Jan Smit was looking for. Because they don’t need it because of their portrait rights, but perhaps also because even they – with faces that most of the world would recognize – find it a bit immodest.
Not Jan Smit. Or the people around him. They will prove how unique he is. While for me Jan Smit is really the textbook example of ordinary, not meant negatively at all. Not unattractive, he doesn’t seem unfriendly to me, he’s great at what he does, and he does it quite successfully. Precisely because he radiates that, had he not been known, you would immediately forget his name at a party. Approachable. Dead normal.
The application dates back to 2015, was refused for the first time in 2016 and again after an appeal at the end of last year. Seven years to assess whether someone has become more special. Seems strong to me, I’m guessing they just forgot about him.
Frank Huiskamp replaces Marcel van Roosmalen.