It won’t be so easy to trademark “c’mon” gesture
THE player who introduced the famous “vicht” salute to world tennis is outraged Lleyton Hewitt has adopted the trademark and stands to make millions.The former Wimbledon champion is understood to have bought the rights to the distinctive celebratory gesture after former Swedish pro Niclas Kroon inadvertently let it lapse.
Kroon, 41, who held the rights along with former world No. 1 Mats Wilander from 1988, often used the signal whenever they won a point or game.Broadly meaning “for sure”, it is now widely used by athletes from other sports, including swimmer Grant Hackett and Crows defender Andrew McLeod.
“I wish he had called me first,” Kroon said from his home in Houston, Texas.
“I don’t know what to say. You get to a certain age and you realise people are f***ing other people all the time.
“It’s all about business and making money. I’m so sick and tired of sh** like that.
“I know that he’s surrounded by people who are probably going to make money from this.
“The thing about using the word “mate” in Australia . . . it probably doesn’t sound so good anymore.”
Kroon conceded the trademark may have lapsed several months ago after the death of his father, Erik, who handled his business affairs.
“My Dad just passed away and I haven’t got the papers here but I’m going to check all this out in the next few days,” Kroon said.
It’s not the first time people have tried to use the “vicht” signal, which he and brother Michael first started using when they played yahtzee as children in the 1970s.
“We were fighting with some people in Sweden a long time ago,” he said. “But Mats and I had the patent.
“We were paying (the fees for the trademark) even though we weren’t using it.
“I’ve been doing stuff with it for years, even here in the States, for a small market.
“It’s funny that it (Hewitt’s move) happened now because I was just about to launch it here in the US and put it online.”
Kroon said had planned to launch his own boutique brand of “vicht” clothing at the launch of a tennis and fitness club in Houston.
Eventually, he intended to market the brand more widely because of its popularity – similar to golfer Greg Norman’s famous shark logo.
Kroon, a popular tennis journeyman who won an ATP title in Brisbane and reached a career-high ranking of 46, said he recalled Hewitt using the gesture at the 2004 Masters Cup in Houston.
“In conversation, he said it was Mats Wilander who started it, but a friend I was with told him that I was the one who started it,” Kroon said.
“Every time he was walking off the court during his game I’d do the vicht sign and he’d be responding. We were doing it for fun, there was no big deal.”
Kroon said he would consult lawyers over his right to use the salute in the future. Adelaide Now