You'll be amazed at the things people have tried to trademark. From names to poses to an iconic engine sound, some of these trademark claims submitted will definitely surprise you.

Whether it's to protect their ideas or to make money, read on to see some of the people and businesses who have engaged in unusual trademark battles, both successfully and unsuccessfully, over the years. All dollar values in US dollars.

Legendary sportscaster and boxing announcer Michael Buffer has been a fixture in boxing rings since 1982. He shot to fame because of his distinctive style and the catchphrase "Let’s get ready to rumble", which he proclaims before matches.

The catchphrase was so popular that he acquired the legal trademark for it in 1992.

The catchphrase has been licensed for use in several video games and adverts over the years and has made Buffer millions.

In fact, he reportedly earns between $25,000 (£20.5k) and $100,000 (£82k) every time he says the iconic phrase, even banking an eye-watering $1 million (£820.6k) from time to time.

Nothing ushers in the holiday season quite like Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit All I Want For Christmas Is You. And the pop diva attempted to stake her claim to the title "Queen of Christmas" by trademarking the term in March last year, along with the terms "Princess of Christmas" and "QOC". 

However, Carey’s trademark petition was quickly opposed by Christmas songwriter Elizabeth Chan, who said: "I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolise it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity. That's just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It's meant to be shared; it's not meant to be owned".

Another star unhappy with Carey’s trademark petition was Grammy-winning singer Darlene Love (pictured), who rose to fame with hits such as All Alone On Christmas and Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).

The veteran songstress posted a feisty statement on Facebook: "David Letterman officially declared me the Queen of Christmas 29 years ago, a year before [Carey] released All I Want For Christmas Is You, and at 81 years of age, I'm NOT changing anything. I've been in the business for 52 years, have earned it and can still hit those notes! If Mariah has a problem call David or my lawyer!!"

On 15 November, the United States Trademark and Appeal Board officially ruled against Carey's application. In response, Chan said: "My goal in taking on this fight was to stand up to trademark bullying not just to protect myself, but also to protect future Queens of Christmas". 

Motorcycle enthusiasts often say that there’s nothing like the roar of a Harley-Davidson hog. The company agreed and, in the late 1990s, tried to protect the sound of its engines roaring into life.

Believe it or not, sound trademarks are fairly big (Nokia owns its famous 1990s ringtone, for example), but notoriously difficult to obtain.

Nine competitors filed individual oppositions to Harley’s registrability for the trademark. This resulted in Harley-Davidson dropping its claim, probably because it would have been nearly impossible to prove the sound was unique to its engines.

Before Donald Trump occupied the Oval Office as the president of America, he was the leader of cable TV ratings with his show The Apprentice.

His catchphrase for dismissing contestants – “You’re fired!” – quickly gained notoriety and began to pop up on merchandising and spoofs. 

Unsurprisingly, Trump tried to trademark the phrase in 2004 to prevent others from cashing in on his wit. But it didn’t work, despite it being one of the most famous taglines of its day, proving just how hard it is to trademark a slogan.

However, a New Hampshire-based pottery company did succeed in trademarking its company name as You’re Fired! LLC.

Sean John Combs knows a thing or two about reinvention. The rapper first hit the scene with the moniker Puff Daddy, inspired by his childhood nickname Puff that he'd received due to his tendency to huff and puff in anger.

However, in 2001, he decided to undergo his first reinvention to P Diddy. But things got more complicated when he dropped the P in 2006, and DJ "Diddy" Dearlove sued the star over the name...

Dearlove won the case so that Diddy had to remain P Diddy when in the UK. However, that wasn't the end of Diddy's reinvention. In November 2017, he tweeted from his @diddy account that he was changing his name once again, to "LOVE aka Brother Love".

However, he revealed a few days later that it was all a joke, and he was still Diddy. But in late 2019, the rapper made the first ever legal change to his name when he changed it to Sean LOVE Combs, swapping out his original middle name of John.

McDonald’s doesn’t actually own the trademark for the prefix ‘Mc’, but it does own its brand name. The fast-food behemoth opts instead to litigate on a case-by-case basis when it feels another company has gotten too close to its brand.

For example, it was successful when challenging San Francisco-based coffee chain McCoffee, and beat MacJoy in the Philippines. 

But in 2009, McDonald's lost out to McCurry, a Malaysian fast-food chain, in a battle that lasted over eight years. Apparently, the food served was so distinct that no one would ever confuse the two.

Since late 2010, Facebook has owned the word "face". That doesn’t mean that no one can use the word ever again, but it does mean that other telecommunications companies can't use it in their names or slogans. 

One exception is Apple’s FaceTime, which gained its own trademark for the word "facetime" as a whole in 2010. 

The NFL and the New Orleans Saints football team have been embroiled in litigation against the record company Who Dat? Inc. The business had trademarked the phrase in 1983, but five years later the NFL tried to trademark the same phrase.

The issue only came to a head in 2010 when the NFL tried to claim royalties and to suppress unauthorised sales of merchandise featuring the Saints’ famous catchphrase when the team reached the Super Bowl. The record company Who Dat? Inc. was having none of it and sued the NFL.

Eventually, Who Dat? Inc. came to an agreement with the NFL that both sides could use the term, but that didn't stop the record company from also suing two local T-shirt makers and a restaurant over the slogan. Those battles also ended in settlements. 

Later in 2014, the record label turned its attention to the merchandise store Who Dat Shoppe! of Slidell, Louisiana. While it's not clear how that battle ended, it's known that some merchandise sellers in the area do pay Who Dat? royalties, while others have stopped selling products with the "Who Dat" slogan.

In the maelstrom of press ahead of the release of its much-anticipated Donkey Kong Country Returns Wii game in 2010, Nintendo filed a trademark suit for the phrase "It’s on like Donkey Kong", which was first used by rapper Ice Cube in the 1992 hit-song Now I Gotta Wet’cha.

Despite Ice Cube being the author and creator of the phrase, Nintendo was successful in trademarking the slogan. 

It’s not news that college football is big business in the US, so it’s no surprise that Boise State University decided to trademark one of its most recognisable football assets: its blue turf. The trademark was approved in 2009, and means that no other American college can have a blue playing field (affectionately nicknamed Smurf Turf). 

However, the claim doesn’t stop other colleges from getting themselves non-green turf, just so long as it’s not blue. Eastern Washington now has a red field, and Central Arkansas commissioned a purple and grey field. 

In 2007, Paris Hilton was arguably one of the most famous women in the world thanks to her show The Simple Life and her penchant for publicising her personal life. She trademarked her catchphrase “That’s hot” early on in her career to capitalise on her exposure. 

But Hallmark Cards took no notice and printed a card featuring a blonde character in pink exclaiming the catchphrase. Hilton didn't hesitate to sue, and Hallmark was forced to settle in 2010 for an undisclosed sum.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin managed to trademark her name, and that of her daughter Bristol Palin, in 2011. The trademark covers "educational and entertainment services, namely, providing motivational speaking services in the fields of politics, culture, business and values", as well as "information about political elections" and "a website featuring information about political issues".

The final approval must have been a relief for Palin, who had her previous attempts to protect her own name rejected because she didn't sign her own name on the form!

The yellow smiley face icon had been a huge part of the Walmart brand identity. But in 2006, the goofy yellow guy mysteriously disappeared from stores and adverts.

That’s because Walmart was locked in a legal battle with Brussels-based The Smiley Company, which claimed to have invented the Smiley Face in 1972. 

Both Walmart and Franklin Loufrani, founder of The Smiley Company, sued each other in US courts for years until they reached a settlement in 2011.

Details have never been disclosed, but Walmart spokesperson Danit Marquardt has declared "We own the trademark" and Smiley is back on the shop floor. 

Subway is one of the biggest fast-food chains in the world and has built its reputation on its large and inexpensive subs. So it’s no surprise that it attempted to protect the term "footlong" for its largest and most famous sandwich. 

However, other smaller chains appealed, and in 2013 the trademark was thrown out when a judge deemed the term "footlong" to be too widely used in the food and restaurant industry to justify a trademark for Subway. 

Syracuse University quietly filed a trademark suit in 2006, hoping to gain exclusive rights not only to the word "orange" but the colour too. The university’s sports teams have long been nicknamed "The Orange", and it’s the school’s main colour. 

There was a reason Syracuse tried to keep its trademark application on the down-low: other universities also use the colour orange to whip up school spirit, and when they finally found out about the request, they assumed it was the colour orange and promptly objected. However, in 2013, seven years after it was first filed, the trademark of the word "orange" on Syracuse's sports kits and merchandise was granted. 

Gareth Bale is one of the most celebrated soccer players in the world, and he scores a lot of goals. In order to capitalise on this and grow his brand, in 2013 Bale successfully applied for a trademark for his "11 of Hearts" hand celebration – 11 being his shirt number. 

However, contrary to reports at the time, he didn't actually get rights to the gesture itself. The "11 of Hearts" trademark he received is an image of his gesture that could be used on "shoes, hats, bags, umbrellas, and jewellery". It reportedly brings in millions every year for Bale.

Apple is known for not being slow to take competitors to court and, true to form, it battled it out with Amazon for over two years over the use of the term "App Store."

The suit was first filed in 2001, when Amazon had the temerity to name the facility that sold apps on Android the "Appstore". Apple claimed that this was an improper use of its trademarked "app store" terminology. 

After a judge denied a request for an injunction that would legally bar Amazon from using the name, Apple continued to fight it in court, until it decided to cut its losses in 2014.

Apple claimed it chose to drop the case because its App Store brand had grown strong enough not to require additional legal protection.

In 2015, Taylor Swift was about to go on her 1989 World Tour, starting in Tokyo. Before that kicked off, Swift decided to trademark some of her lyrics such as "this sick beat" from her song Shake It Off, "Nice to meet you, where have you been?" and "Party like it's 1989".

The main reason behind the flurry of 37 trademark applications was thought to be for merchandising. While many of the phrases haven't been used for Swift's merchandise, the trademarks protect her lyrics against those profiting from her work with fake products.

KISS frontman Gene Simmons has been making the "devil horn" symbol with his hands for years and is seldom photographed without striking this distinctive pose. So in 2017, after four decades of waving his hands around, he decided to obtain a legal trademark for the gesture. 

It failed though because what Simmons thinks of as "devil horns" actually means "I love you" in American Sign Language. Simmons was forced to drop his trademark attempt less than two weeks after filing it. 

In early 2017, it looked like the New England Patriots could do no wrong in the NFL. They had won 18 out of 19 games, with only the Super Bowl final standing in their way of a perfect season.

Then the team’s owners, Kraft Group, took the controversial step of trademarking the slogans "19-0" and "Perfect Season". The request was approved in February 2017 and the merchandise was swiftly produced. 

It was an interesting decision by the Pats, as in 2006’s Super Bowl XLII they had been in the same position, having printed all the "19-0" merchandise, only to lose to the New York Giants.

Luckily for them, this time it paid off and the Pats got their perfect season to match their trademarked slogans.

Despite the fact that rival products such as the four-bar Norwegian chocolate bar Kvikk Lunsj already existed, in 2006 Nestlé secured the European trademark for the Kit Kat's shape, or "four trapezoidal bars aligned on a rectangular base". However, Kvikk Lunsj contested this...

In 2016, Nestlé was told by an EU court that it had to prove that Kit Kat was recognisable in every EU nation. But Nestlé wasn't able to do that for all countries, and its trademark was removed. The confectionery company appealed, but in July 2018 it lost the case.

When in 2015 Pittsburgh gynaecologist and media personality Dr Draion M. Burch tried to trademark the shortened version of his name – Doctor Drai – rap mogul and record producer Dr Dre wasn't too impressed.

He argued that the gynaecologist's speaking events constituted entertainment and could lead to mix-ups between the medical doctor and himself.

However, in May 2018, the courts ruled against the former N.W.A rapper and Beats headphone co-founder, meaning that Doctor Drai was able to trademark his similar-sounding moniker.

Cadbury won the trademark for the distinctive purple hue – Pantone 2685C, if you're wondering – of its wrapping in 1995. However, when it attempted another trademark for any use of the colour purple on packaging, its rival Nestlé challenged it and won.

Since 2013, Cadbury only owns a trademark for purple "applied to the whole visible surface, or being the predominant colour applied to the whole visible surface." But recently, Cadbury tried again...

In late 2018, Cadbury filed for a trademark that would protect its purple even if it was just featured on a small part of a chocolate's packaging. However, this was rejected, meaning that the Cadbury purple is at risk of being used by other confectionery brands.

Netflix's comedy series Easy, which has starred Aubrey Plaza and Orlando Bloom, first aired in 2016 and came to an end in 2019. But before it stopped the show became embroiled in a trademark battle, with easyGroup challenging the use of the "Easy" title in Europe.

easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou started his easy brand in 1995 with his airline, and now its "easy" prefix sits in front of easyHotel, easyBus and easyGym. He challenged Netflix over using Easy in the show's name: "I think this is a case of typically arrogant behaviour by a very large American tech company who never bothered to check what legal rights other companies have outside the US."

The battle seems to have petered out now that the show has come to an end, and Easy can still be streamed on the Netflix platform.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z announced their new-born twins’ names to the world in a curious way back in July 2017 by filing a trademark application for the baby’s monikers: Rumi and Sir Carter.

Bey and Jay argued that they alone should be able to market products using their children’s names, and one would be inclined to agree. They had some trouble with the trademark for the name of their eldest daughter, though...

The super-couple tried to trademark their eldest daughter’s name, Blue Ivy, in January 2016, but the application was contested in May 2017 by Veronica Morales, who runs a wedding planning business based in Boston under the name Blue Ivy Events and has had a trademark for Blue Ivy since 2012.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z argued that the trademark for "cultural icon" and "mini style star" Blue Ivy Carter as a full name didn't infringe on the wedding planner's business, and after a lengthy battle they finally won the case in July 2020.

The singer-songwriter is no stranger to trademark accusations, and Swift was targeted yet again following the release of her 2020 album, Evermore.

A theme park of the same name in Utah said that the album title violated the park’s rights, as well as its merchandise designs. The park filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the singer.

Swift’s lawyers were quick to cast the allegations aside as "baseless", saying that the album is in no way similar to Evermore Park’s aesthetic.

The park opened in 2018 and is designed to look like a fantasy European village. It doesn’t have any rides but features costumed actors and performers.

Ahead of the launch of her now super successful make-up brand Kylie Cosmetics, reality star turned entrepreneur Kylie Jenner attempted to trademark the name "Kylie" in 2014.

One person less than happy with the proposal was another famous Kylie, Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, who argued that the trademark filing infringed upon her brand, which she'd been building for decades.

The lawsuit noted that Minogue had been selling clothes and perfumes marketed under her first name since 1996, one year before Jenner was born.

Minogue successfully blocked the trademark in 2017, and thanks to her the name Kylie remains non-proprietary.

It looks like Minogue has no hard feelings over the battle though. She revealed on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, "It was just business, obviously" and went on to add, "Look, when I was named Kylie, I think I met one person older than me called Kylie. So it’s kind of unusual."

The Metropolitan Police (Met) in London sued British broadcaster the BBC in 1996, claiming ownership of the trademark for the police public call box (pictured), which was a common fixture on UK streets in the 1960s.

The BBC sci-fi show Doctor Who has iconically used the police public call box as the form of its time-travelling machine – the TARDIS – since 1963, but the Met objected to the BBC’s use of TARDIS images on comics, shirts and other merchandise.

The Met argued that it should be the trademark holder of the TARDIS as it was most commonly known as a police telephone box.

After years of the lawsuit dragging on, the BBC finally won in 2002 on the grounds that the telephone box had been used by other police forces outside London, so it didn't exclusively belong to the Met.

It was also noted that most of the public would view police call boxes as street furniture. 

In the end, the Met police were forced to pay the BBC £850 ($1k) plus legal fees.

Kylie Jenner isn’t the only Kardashian/Jenner clan member to find herself at the centre of a trademark battle. 

Kim Kardashian launched her skincare brand SKKN BY KIM earlier this year amid much fanfare. However, a Brooklyn-based business called Beauty Concepts, which provides salon services under the name SKKN+, has filed a lawsuit.

The feud kicked off last year when Beauty Concepts founder Cyndie Lunsford sent a cease and desist to Kardashian after she filed to trademark SKKN BY KIM and SKKN. Lunsford's business had reportedly operated under the name SKNN+ since 2018, and filed a trademark in 2021, days before Kardashian filed her own.

The lawsuit claims that if both companies were allowed to use the SKKN name, Kardashian's brand would overshadow Lunsford’s smaller business.

Kardashian’s lawyer, Michael G. Rhodes, told TMZ, "The question at hand is one of trademark law and we’ve not done anything deserving of legal action by her." He added that he hoped both parties could "smooth things over".

The case is still ongoing, but at the time of writing Kardashian is still using the name SKKN.

Retired eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt has filed to trademark his iconic victory pose of leaning back and pointing towards the sky.

Bolt plans to use the image to market a range of products including eyewear, bags, jewellery, and sporting goods, as well as restaurants and bars.

If his application is successful, the logo could then be licenced out to other businesses, or Bolt could make the products himself.

The fastest man in the world successfully applied to register a similar trademark 12 years ago. However, the trademark has since expired after going unused.

Jason Gambert might not be a household name, but as he claims to have invented the term SEO in 2007, he is quite famous in certain (rather small) circles.

For the uninitiated, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and refers to a set of techniques online publishers use to make sure search engines find their content in the vast online universe, and then show it to people searching for relevant terms. 

Gambert tried to trademark the term in 2008, and had he been successful, it would have made him a fortune. But the internet rallied against him as people filed countless notices of opposition, and Gambert’s bid was defeated.

Ironically, it was a blog post that went viral (using clever SEO) that exposed his trademark grab and ultimately brought it down.

British supermarket Marks & Spencer has started legal action against rival German retailer Aldi over a caterpillar cake. Marks & Spencer's Colin the Caterpillar cake was launched 30 years ago, and later the store introduced Connie the Caterpillar too. The cake has three trademarks, but other retailers have produced similar cakes over the years, such as Waitrose's Cecil the Caterpillar and Asda's Clyde the Caterpillar.

But it's Aldi's Cuthbert the Caterpillar that led Marks & Spencer to make a legal challenge, accusing Aldi of "riding on its coat tails"...

Marks and Spencer called for Aldi to remove its caterpillar cake from the shelves and not to sell any similar items. Earlier this year, it was revealed the two retailers had reached a confidential agreement that settled the case, leaving experts unsure who came out on top.

However, it’s not over just yet. Aldi is reportedly filing a trademark application for "Cuthbert" that will extend to other merchandise beyond the cake...

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