Lizzo has officially been granted the trademark for the phrase “100% THAT Bitch” following a reversal on the original decision made by the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
According to reports, the federal trademark gives Lizzo the option to use the lyric from her hit single “Truth Hurts” for apparel. “Considering the entirety of the record, we find that most consumers would perceive 100% THAT Bitch used on the goods in the application as associated with Lizzo rather than as a commonplace expression,” the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s decision read. “There is no evidence of use of the term 100% THAT Bitch prior to 2017, so we have no indication that the proposed mark already was ‘widely used, over a long period of time and by a large number of merchandisers’ before Lizzo popularized it,” the board added.
The artist’s trademark application was initially rejected in 2021 after an examining attorney claims that the phrase, which is “a message of self-confidence and female empowerment,” “may associate” it with Lizzo, however it “does not entitle the applicant as a singer-songwriter to appropriate for itself exclusive use of the phrase.” Lizzo’s own legal team then responded with evidence asserting that the phrase has been used in social media platforms, e-commerce and event sites along with “unauthorized references” to Lizzo by name.
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