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Nintendo Seeks To Trademarks "It's On Like Donkey Kong"
eldavojohn writes "Nintendo has requested a trademark on the phrase 'It's on like Donkey Kong.' The phrase has been used in everything from rap to television in modern culture. From the article: 'The makers of the classic video-game franchise have filed a request with the US Patent and Trademark office to trademark the pop-culture phrase, "It's on like Donkey Kong." Nintendo claims that the catchphrase "is an old, popular Nintendo phrase that has a number of possible interpretations depending on how it's used."'"
On the 15 of August 1994, William R. Della Croce, Jr. filed for the trademark Linux, and then demanded royalties from Linux distributors.
In 1996, Torvalds and some affected organizations sued him to have the trademark assigned to Torvalds, and in 1997 the case was settled.
There is precedent for trademarking a name after it's use and using it to extort^h^h^h^h^h^h require licensing fees.