Before Cardi B stepped into the hip hop scene, the "Press" rapper was already a social media star. She was known for uploading videos where she gave outlandish commentary about any and everything, and occasionally she would drop one of her signature sounds or phrases. As she gained popularity, fans adopted Cardi's behaviors, and soon the world was overtaken with mimicking one of her favorite words: "Okurr."
As any businesswoman would, Cardi decided that it was time to trademark her phrase. However, according to The Blast, U.S. Patent and Trademark officials have denied her request, stating that her slogan is a "widely-used commonplace expressions" and couldn't be trademarked. The outlet obtained documents that reportedly state that "Okurr" is a "slogan or term that does not function as a trademark or service mark to indicate the source of applicant’s goods and/or services," and that it isn't, in and of itself, uniquely distinguishable enough from other popular words already in the world's vocabulary.
Like we all do, officials allegedly searched the internet extensively to research "Okurr" and were bombarded with videos where Cardi's fans were copying the star. In addition, they also found a few examples of the Kardashians also using the word, albeit slightly differently. Yet, Cardi was facing an uphill from the beginning anyhow because before she filed for her trademark in March, there were others who beat her to the punch and filed paperwork of their own.