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“Bam!”
Emeril Lagasse’s “Emeril’s Food of Love” company owns the right to the phrase “Bam!” for its use on just about anything you can find in a drawer or cabinet in your kitchen: pans, pots, spatulas and tongs. There are numerous other claims to the phrase, including one by Jackass star Bam Margera and one by the EasyOff company for their cleaning products of the same name, but only Emeril’s uses an exclamation point.
“Goodnight my sweet Anna baby”
Larry Birkhead, the father of the late Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter Dannielynn, trademarked this phrase for its use in movies, books, television programs and stage plays. The phrase was used heavily by the media during coverage of Smith’s death. Birkhead claims the phrase is what the late Smith wanted to hear every night before she went to sleep, and Birkhead included the line in a poem on his website following her passing.
While Birkhead claims he never filed for the trademark, it is registered in his name. His former attorney, Debra Opri, claims that she advised him to trademark the phrase to “protect himself” because “You don’t want someone else to take advantage of something he said internationally — after he said it in court and then on one of the TV shows, it became famous.” Given all of the people who have tried to earn a profit from Smith’s death, it was probably a smart move.
“They are who we thought they were”
Normally quiet Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green first uttered this trademarked phrase during a swear-filled, post-game tirade in 2006. When he was asked what he thought of the Chicago Bears after his team dropped a 20-point lead during a Monday Night Football game, Green responded “they are who we thought they were.” There is another part to the quote “and we let em’ off the hook!” that is not part of the trademark. Green exclusively owns the right to use the phrase for sports merchandise, but the clip is a sports media standard that is used when teams fail to take advantage of their opponent’s obvious flaws.
Caroline Donnelly is an occasional contributor to mentalfloss.com.
Comments (22)
Comment
You know what I love about MentalFloss? I have a final exam tomorrow and two topics have been covered in two stories (well sort of): graphics and trademarks. Both stories will serve as memory joggers and I’m eternally grateful. This site rules.
posted by Tricia on 1-23-2008 at 9:38 am
USC’s “three-pete” mantra was the source of much ridicule because in fact, they only had 1 BCS championship (the other “championship” was a Season-ending AP Voters Poll). And yes they failed to win their back-to-back BCS bid.
I wonder if One-Pete is trademarked?
posted by steve on 1-23-2008 at 9:52 am
The Colorado Rockies, in their amazing run to the 2007 World Series, tried to copyright “Rocktober” — after it had already appeared as the banner headline in both Denver dailies. They were as unsuccessful with that bid as they were against the Red Sox.
posted by Lindy on 1-23-2008 at 9:57 am
I own the phrase “Shit up and ride” as applied to cycling.
posted by fixedgear on 1-23-2008 at 10:09 am
Errr, ’shut up and ride’ as I cannot type.
posted by fixedgear on 1-23-2008 at 10:10 am
Wine in a can, eh? What’s next? That’s not so hot. I’ll stick with the boxed variety. Thanks.
This article will really help me in the Cranium tournament tonight, by the way.
I’m officially trademarking my own catch phrase now. I won’t tell you what it is until I can legally protect myself.
posted by Greg F. on 1-23-2008 at 10:16 am
Isn’t there a Family Guy episode when the Pope visits and, before he steps off the plane, the announcer at the airport says “Let’s get ready to humble!”? Just throwing that out there… one of those things that hangs out somewhere in the dark recesses of the brain until it’s needed, I suppose. ;-)
posted by Roger on 1-23-2008 at 10:17 am
fixedgear - you should totally TM the first one, also!
posted by Roger on 1-23-2008 at 10:19 am
Ha! Good stuff.
posted by Tom on 1-23-2008 at 10:45 am
That Denny Green line cracks me up every time.
/Maybe it’s because I’m a Bears fan and that was a great game. Also “We let ‘em off the hook!” Hahahahaha!
posted by Moon on 1-23-2008 at 11:11 am
Did Donald Trump ever succeed in getting his “You’re Fired!” tag line trademarked?
That was the first time I had ever heard of someone attempting to trademark two words (or three if you are one of THOSE people).
posted by Rnast on 1-23-2008 at 2:11 pm
I seem to recall reading about Texas A&M threatening to sue the Seattle Seahawks for using their phrase “The 12th Man” in reference to their fans. Never did hear the outcome of that one
posted by Ralph on 1-23-2008 at 3:15 pm
Fixedgear - you have me CRACKING UP at your phrase…I see tshirts, bumper stickers, koozies, keychains with that phrase…its perfect!
posted by donner on 1-23-2008 at 10:30 pm
Texas A&M ended up with a nice settlement and the Seahawks are supposed to acknowledge the trademark whenever they use the ‘12th man’ phrase. Not sure what they’re going to do since every other NFL seems to want to swipe the tradition to describe their fan base…
posted by texag on 1-23-2008 at 11:09 pm
Is “Bam!” really a phrase? If so, then don’t forget the word “Word” being trademarked by Microsoft. You might be inclined to sue, but they’ve also trademarked the word “Money.”
Ralph, the Seahawks eventually settled with A&M last year. I believe they admitted no wrongdoing and chose to pay an undisclosed amount in order to license the right to use “The 12th Man” phrase into the foreseeable future.
posted by Aaron on 1-24-2008 at 7:13 am
Does anyone own the rights to “That’s a bowl full of awesomenesstastic, minus the bowl” ??
Cha-ching!!!!!!!!!!
posted by Jared on 1-24-2008 at 12:39 pm
or maybe Conan O’Brien should attempt to trademark his “How bout a nice tall glass of Shut-Up Juice?”. I can see that being used for a myriad of products.
posted by Molly W. on 1-24-2008 at 2:34 pm
I think “The Donald” was trying to trademark “You’re fired!” Can anyone confirm?
posted by kevin on 1-25-2008 at 12:31 am
what about Merry Christmas? or achoo?
posted by nana on 1-28-2008 at 1:20 pm
How about the Patriots trying to get “perfect season”?
posted by giants fan on 2-8-2008 at 5:26 pm
The trademark on Three-Peat should never have been allowed, because in order to register a trademark you must prove use in commerce. Since they didn’t win the “three-peat” it was not used and should not have been registerable.
posted by Ray Trygstad on 2-14-2008 at 4:13 pm
Caroline,
Your story was all about trademarks, why did you say the USC students got a “copyright infringement” notice? don’t you think it was a “trademark infringement” notice?
Anyone curious to know if a mark has been registered in the U.S. can look it up on the trademark office’s website.
There you will see that GOOD NIGHT MY SWEET ANNA BABY was not registered as a trademark, though an application was filed. The application is abandoned.
posted by avid reader on 2-18-2008 at 7:05 am