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Who owns the phrase: "It's on like Donkey Kong"? Is it the maker of the video game which takes its namesake directly from the quoted phrase? Is it the giant gorilla that dominated the pre-video game era? Or is it the rapper that popularized the phrase in its entirety?

Donkey Kong was originally a game where the player would control Mario, bringing the Italian plumber up a series of ladders and ramps. The player would also have to jump and hammer the barrels thrown by Donkey Kong, an evil Princess kidnapping gorilla. Since its inception, the game has evolved into several spin-offs. Nintendo released Donkey Kong in 1981.

The chain of title of King Kong's intellectual property is well described in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., 746 F. 2d 112, (2nd Cir. 1984): "Universal, a giant in the entertainment industry, maintains that it owns the trademark in the name, character and story of "King Kong." The King Kong character and story, of course, need no introduction. Universal traces its ownership of the trademark from RKO General's (RKO) efforts to exploit the goodwill created by its 1933 film classic of the same name. It asserts that RKO's commercial use of the name and character of King Kong created the trademark; that the rights to the trademark were passed from RKO to Richard Cooper, son and heir of King Kong creator Merian Cooper, pursuant to a judgment resulting from a claim brought by Richard Cooper against RKO alleging that RKO had exceeded the license originally granted by Merian Cooper to make the original King Kong motion picture; and that Richard Cooper subsequently transferred to Universal for consideration the rights he obtained from RKO."

The phrase, "It's on like Donkey Kong" was used by Ice Cube on his acclaimed 'The Predator' album. The first tercet of his song, 'Now I Gotta Wet'cha' reads, "It's on like Donkey Kong. You wanted that fast buck, now I gotta light that ass up." The album came out in 1992.

On November 9, 2010, Nintendo filed a trademark application for "It's on like Donkey Kong". One can find the application in a search at USPTO.GOV. The application is filed under Section 1B of the Lanham Act (Trademark Act), which means that it is not based on use of the phrase in selling anything. However, trademark law allows one to register a trademark with a mere intent to use that mark, as opposed to actually using the mark to sell video games in interstate commerce (Section 1A). Thus, Nintendo, although it claims the phrase has been used to describe its games, isn't willing to swear on it.

On November 21, Nintendo will be releasing Donkey Kong Country Returns and actually using the phrase in commerce in its likely pervasive ad campaign. After that date, Nintendo is likely to amend its trademark application to amend use, effectively converting the 1B (non-use based) application to a 1A (use based) application. The importance of the distinction between 1B and 1A filing bases is that only that latter will have any real commercial viability. An application wherein use is never alleged (the trademark is never used in commerce) can only remain an application for a total of three years. But, twelve days is all Nintendo needed to be first in line for federal protection of the phrase, "It's on like Donkey Kong". This protection would preclude Universal Studios and Ice Cube from making any video games using the same famous phrase.