No More Monkeying Around: Nintendo Attempting to Trademark “It's On Like Donkey Kong”

Posted 11/10/2010 at 8:18pm | by Nathan Grayson

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This may sound normal enough at first – seeing as a certain business casual-clad simian's involved – but here's the thing: Nintendo didn't actually coin the phrase.

Instead, “It's On Like Donkey Kong” swung its way into common vernacular the same way most modern phrases and ideologies have: via rapper Ice Cube's 1992 hit “Now I Gotta Wet'Cha.” That, however, hasn't detered Nintendo from sending a request to trademark the phrase to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, reports GameSpot.

Nintendo has recently burned its brand into phrases like “Gotta Catch 'Em All” as well, but the master wordologists at Nintendo did, in fact, come up with that one, which is – to our knowledge – what trademarks were made for.

So yeah, it's kind of sketchy. Maybe it's time for Ice Cube to don some red overalls and scale Nintendo's headquarters to get his property back. A word of warning, though, Mr. Cube: watch out for those barrels. Also, armed guards. With guns. There'll probably be a few of those too.