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Posted: Nov 12 2010 07:53 am

from kotaku:

Nintendo has found a novel new way to promote the upcoming release of Donkey Kong Country Returns: Filing a request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the pop-culture phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong." Oh it's on.

the phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong" has been around for quite a long time. I first remember hearing it at the beginning of Ice Cube's "Now I gotta Wet'cha" in 1992. It's appeared in various songs, movies, and television shows since then, and is a relatively common phrase in both gaming and non-gaming circles.

Now Nintendo is taking it back, filing a request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for ownership of the phrase in order to promote the November 21 release of Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii. The company says the phrase points to the status of Donkey Kong as a pop culture icon.

More like the status of Donkey Kong as something that goes quite well with "It's on," but they can have their promotional fun.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Good luck to the lawyers that need to sort this one out.
http://tess2.uspto.gov/tmdb/tmep/1200.htm

Holy crap that is a lot of law.

So, Now I gotta Wet'cha is copyrighted, and therefore documented as in existence with ownership. The copyright and trademark are totally separate, but I imagine that Ice Cube could use it to say with absolute proof that the phrase was written prior to Nintendo filing for the trademark.

The question is, is a trademark similar to a patent/copyright in that the person/company filing for the TM must be the original creator of the material being trademarked or have it legally sold to them? Or, is it simply the first person who files for the TM that wins.

There are many more questions as well. Was Donkey Kong already a TM? If so, is it legal for any company other than the TM owner to use one TM inside another TM?

I have no fucking idea. No matter how you look at it, Nintendo seems to be the bad guy here.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Wait, wait, wait. Shigeru Miyamoto created "Donkey Kong" and now simply wants to own the trade mark to the phrase featuring "Donkey Kong" and somehow Nintendo is the bad guy? What the fuck kind of logic is that?

Doesn't that make all that douchebags from the past 15-20 years the "bad guy" for using the phrase without proper copyright?

I mean I wouldn't expect to be able to say "I'm down like Charlie Brown" on TV and shit without expecting to pay Charles Schulz family.

I understand their may be some legalities in question but whatever. How in the possible hell could Nintendo be "the bad guy" for wanting proper use of the popular phrase featuring NINTENDO'S DONKEY KONG!?

Again, I understand that it's silly to want to get paid all the time when someone says it, but I would rather that copyright lie with Nintendo than Ice Cube or some other half ass "pop culture" icon.

This doesn't limit the use of the phrase, just by people trying to profit from it.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Nov 12 2010 10:59 am

Trademark only applies to the trade you're using it in. This is why we can have Apple computers and Apple records. Or Sydlexia the Website and Sydlexia Power Vibrators. Different fields.

Pretty much all it means is only Nintendo is allowed to use the phrase "It's On Like Donkey Kong" for video games. It's still open to use in other media. In theory, anyways.

And yes, Donkey Kong is very likely trademarked.

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

UsaSatsui wrote:

Or Sydlexia the Website and Sydlexia Power Vibrators. Different fields.

Posted: Nov 12 2010 11:21 am

UsaSatsui wrote:

And yes, Donkey Kong is very likely trademarked.

King Kong, on the other hand, is not.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Nov 12 2010 11:41 am

Syd Lexia wrote:

UsaSatsui wrote:

And yes, Donkey Kong is very likely trademarked.

King Kong, on the other hand, is not.

I think they were also able to prove that the two (Donkey and King) were different enough as to not infringe. And if they weren't, the DKC games certainly did.

But, yes, King Kong is public domain. I'm sure you know why.

Posted: Nov 12 2010 11:48 am

King Kong is weird.

There are rights on the property held by four different entities: The Cooper Estate, RKO, Universal, and Dino De Laurentiis. The name, however, is not among them.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

joshwoodzy wrote:

Wait, wait, wait. Shigeru Miyamoto created "Donkey Kong" and now simply wants to own the trade mark to the phrase featuring "Donkey Kong" and somehow Nintendo is the bad guy? What the fuck kind of logic is that?

Doesn't that make all that douchebags from the past 15-20 years the "bad guy" for using the phrase without proper copyright?

I mean I wouldn't expect to be able to say "I'm down like Charlie Brown" on TV and shit without expecting to pay Charles Schulz family.

I understand their may be some legalities in question but whatever. How in the possible hell could Nintendo be "the bad guy" for wanting proper use of the popular phrase featuring NINTENDO'S DONKEY KONG!?

Again, I understand that it's silly to want to get paid all the time when someone says it, but I would rather that copyright lie with Nintendo than Ice Cube or some other half ass "pop culture" icon.

This doesn't limit the use of the phrase, just by people trying to profit from it.

I was under the impression that this was about the phrase "Its on like Donkey Kong" not the name "Donkey Kong".

Donkey Kong is a noun. While no one else should be able to make games that use the character or alter what "Donkey Kong" means now that it has been TM, to suggest that people need to pay to use the term is ridiculous. The name is descriptive of a tangible thing. It would be like saying that a person must pay to say "I just jumped as high as Mario".

Would it be right for Nintendo to then go and trademark that statement just because the subject of it happens to be their character? They didn't come up with it. They should have no right to the phrase. It should forever remain a part of open free speech.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

I don't think they are trying to retain rights to the phrase in general conversation, just when it comes to Video Game Media. Like I said, they are just trying to retain the rights so no one can profit off of the phrase that features their trademarked character.

Posted: Nov 12 2010 12:57 pm

Here's a better ad: "Long Duck Dong plays Donkey Kong." Then, that chinese guy can fall out of a tree.

Posted: Nov 12 2010 03:14 pm

The embed code doesn't seem to work, but that's a link to a segment from last night's Colbert Report about this.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/365395/november-11-2010/stephen-trademarks-dated-catchphrases

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Nov 12 2010 09:23 pm

There seems to be some sort of confusion between a trademark and a copyright.

Copyright is the protection given to a piece of work, such as a story, artwork, or anything published*. It generally cannot be used without permission of the owner, aside from some exceptions (the most popular nowadays is the "fair use".)

Trademark is an indication that you use a particular word, phrase, or image to promote your trade. Generally you can use it freely, but other people aren't allowed to use it to promote their products in the same industry.

The two can overlap. For example, a picture of Donkey Kong can be copyrighted (the image is a work), and it can be a trademark (it's used to promote your game). But they don't mean the same thing.

What does this mean? Let's go to the old standby, McDonalds. Could you open a McDonald's Used Car Dealership? Yep. The trademark doesn't extend that far, there's very little likelihood of confusion. You could also start up, say, McDonald's Landscaping or McDonald's Computers. McDonald's Supermarket, or McDonald's Bakery? You may run into trouble, since they're food, but you may get away with it. McDonald's Pizza or McDonald's Coffee Shop, or even McDonald's Fine Scottish Cuisine, would be right out, because those are competing restaurants , that's where the trademark (service mark, technically) kicks in. And not one of these businesses could use anything remotely resembling the famous Golden Arches, even McDonald's Golden Arch Repair, since that image is likely copyrighted.

*This post is copyrighted. Unauthorized use of this post without the permission of the poster is prohibited.

Posted: Nov 12 2010 10:49 pm

There seems to be some sort of confusion between a trademark and a copyright.

Copyright is the protection given to a piece of work, such as a story, artwork, or anything published*. It generally cannot be used without permission of the owner, aside from some exceptions (the most popular nowadays is the "fair use".)

Trademark is an indication that you use a particular word, phrase, or image to promote your trade. Generally you can use it freely, but other people aren't allowed to use it to promote their products in the same industry.

The two can overlap. For example, a picture of Donkey Kong can be copyrighted (the image is a work), and it can be a trademark (it's used to promote your game). But they don't mean the same thing.

What does this mean? Let's go to the old standby, McDonalds. Could you open a McDonald's Used Car Dealership? Yep. The trademark doesn't extend that far, there's very little likelihood of confusion. You could also start up, say, McDonald's Landscaping or McDonald's Computers. McDonald's Supermarket, or McDonald's Bakery? You may run into trouble, since they're food, but you may get away with it. McDonald's Pizza or McDonald's Coffee Shop, or even McDonald's Fine Scottish Cuisine, would be right out, because those are competing restaurants , that's where the trademark (service mark, technically) kicks in. And not one of these businesses could use anything remotely resembling the famous Golden Arches, even McDonald's Golden Arch Repair, since that image is likely copyrighted.

*This post is copyrighted. Unauthorized use of this post without the permission of the poster is prohibited.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Nov 12 2010 11:11 pm

Oh, your ass is SO sued...