Photo Credit: Andy Witchger / CC by 2.0
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Lizzo a trademark for her lyric ‘100% that b*tch’ from her hit single, “Truth Hurts.”
Lizzo applied for the trademark last year and now she can use it on clothing. “Truth Hurts” was a sleeper hit in 2019 and reached the top of the Billboard charts three years after its release in 2017. Lizzo eventually won a Grammy for the song.
“Considering the entirety of the record, we find that most consumers would perceive ‘100% THAT b*tch’ used on the goods in the application as associated with Lizzo rather than as a commonplace expression,” the decision from the USPTO reads.
The decision reverses a previous rejection on the phrase in 2021 after an examining attorney claimed the phrase couldn’t be appropriated by Lizzo. That’s when Lizzo’s legal team responded with evidence that the phrase was not in wide use before her 2017 song.
“All of the evidence of record regarding third-party use of [the phrase] is from 2017 or later. The Urban Dictionary entry for the term is dated June 12, 2019. Thus, the evidence is contemporaneous with or subsequent to the release of Lizzo’s hit single, ‘Truth Hurts.’
“There is no evidence of use of the term 100% THAT b*tch 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.”
Last night, Lizzo performed at the 65th Grammy Awards and took home the Grammy for Record of the Year. Meanwhile, Beyonce broke the record for most wins by any artist in Grammy history—taking home four new awards of the nine nominations she received. Other winners include Harry Styles for Album of the Year, Samara Joy for Best New Artist, and Bonnie Raitt for Song of the Year.