You'd be amazed at the things people have tried to trademark. Whether it's out of protectiveness over their ideas or more of a money-making opportunity, click or scroll through to see some of the individuals and companies that have engaged in unusual trademark battles over the years, both successfully and unsuccessfully.

When it comes to protecting their trademarks, no one is more litigious than the NFL, which has owned the rights to the words “Super Bowl” since 1969. It’s no surprise it guards its property zealously. The use of the brand was worth an estimated $663 million (£521m) in 2017. Private citizens are free to use the phrase as they please, but brands are not allowed to use the words to promote their own business. 

For example, no bars can advertise “Super Bowl” events, and absolutely no non-NFL-approved merchandising is allowed. Not even broadcasters are exempt, with comedian Stephen Colbert referring to the game as the “Superb Owl” on TV’s The Tonight Show.

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 he acquired the legal trademark for it in 1992.

The catchphrase has been licensed for use in several videogames and adverts over the years and he has reportedly made over $522 million (£410m) in revenue from it since, far more than he makes as an announcer.

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.

At the time, only 23 of 730,000 active trademarks related to sounds or noises. Harley-Davidson ultimately dropped its claim, probably because it would have been nearly impossible to prove the sound was unique to its engines.

Philips tried to trademark its triple-bladed electronic razor design in 1993, but became locked in a nine-year battle when rival Remington consulted solicitors about launching a triple-headed shaver in the UK.

The case was finally resolved in 2002, when Philips lost the trademark. Why? The European High Court ruled that features of a product designed to provide a purely technical result cannot be registered as a trademark.

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 from when he used 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 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.

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 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.

McDonald’s doesn’t actually own the trademark to 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 got 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 against 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’. It doesn’t mean, however, that no one can use the word ever again, but it does mean that other telecommunications companies cannot 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. However, 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 it turned its attention to merchandise store Who Dat Shoppe! of Slidell. While it's not clear how that battle ended, it is 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. 

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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, which means 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 turfs, just as long as it’s not blue. Eastern Washington now has a red field and Central Arkansas has commissioned a purple and grey field.

In 2007, Paris Hilton was arguably the most famous woman 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 in order 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 did not hesitate to sue, and Hallmark was forced to settle in 2010 for an undisclosed sum.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin finally 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 field 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 did not sign her own name on the form!

The yellow smiley face icon had been a huge part of the Walmart brand identity since it opened its doors. 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 the biggest fast food chain in the world in terms of number of outlets, building 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.

Top US university Syracuse 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 which could be used on “shoes, hats, bags, umbrellas and jewellery.” It reportedly nets Bale a tidy $13 million (£10m) a year in revenue.

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 as 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 to not require additional legal protection.

In 2015 Taylor Swift was about to go on her 1989 World Tour, starting in Tokyo. Before that kicked off though, 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 merchandise.

KISS frontman Gene Simmons has been making the 'devil horn' symbol with his hands for years and is seldom photographed not striking this distinctive pose. So in 2017, after four decades 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 to 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 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, 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 a EU court that it had to prove that Kit Kat was recognisable in every EU country. 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 its case.

When Pittsburgh gynaecologist and media personality Dr. Draion M. Burch tried to trademark the shortened version of his name – Doctor Drai – in 2015, 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 – Panetone 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 to 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 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 the 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 finally won the case this July.

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The latest high-profile trademark battle to hit headlines was between the elusive street artist Banksy and greetings card company Full Colour Black. The case started in 2014 when Banksy’s representatives, Pest Control Office, applied for an EU trademark of the Flower Thrower mural the artist painted in Bethlehem in 2005. The London-based company, which had printed a version of the image onto a card, argued it should be able to use the image because Banksy keeps their identity anonymous.

Yet in September this year the European Union Intellectual Property Office stripped Banksy of the trademark on several counts. One of those was that the artist had tried to “circumvent the law” by opening a pop-up store in south London (pictured) to try to keep the intellectual property rights. Another was that in the past the artist had not shown any desire to copyright their work, even once saying that "copyright was for losers". Judges also argued that the artist’s anonymity undermined their case. 

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