The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied Cardi B’s application to trademark the rapper’s quasi-catchphrase “Okurrr.”
Cardi B’s lawyer filed the application in March, with the rapper hoping to use the phrase exclusively – either with three R’s, okurrr, or two, okurr – on a line of merchandise. The word means “okay,” but, to quote Carbi B, “OK is played out.”
However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Cardi B did not have ownership of or originate the word in their response to the rapper.
“Okurrr” is a “commonplace term, message, or expression widely used by a variety of sources that merely conveys an ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment,” the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said (via CNN), adding the word is “commonly used in the drag community and by celebrities as an alternate way of saying ‘OK’ or ‘something that is said to affirm when someone is being put in their place.’”
The decision also noted that variants of the word had previously been used in 2016 on Keeping Up With the Kardashians as well as RuPaul’s Drag Race, with season six contestant Laganja Estranja credited with either originating or popularizing “okurrr.”