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The 17 Most Recognizable Trademarked Sounds

dihard:

potato-potato-potato! Do you know what that sound is? Maybe you don’t recognize the onomatopoeia, but you must certainly know the actual sound. It’s the Hog Call! The rev of a Harley Davidson - one of the most recognized sounds from one of the most recognized brands in the US.

So what’s “potato-potato-potato?” It’s the sound that Harley tried to trademark back in the 90s. In 1994, Harley filed a registration for a trademark of its V-twin engine sound. It read “the mark consists of the exhaust sound of applicant’s motorcycles, produced by V-twin, common crankpin motorcycle engines when the goods are in use.”

Though it was denied, there are, indeed, some sound trademark applications that made it through. About 300, in fact. Some of the most recognized are:

1. NBC’s musical notes G, E, C played on chimes. NBC was the first to trademark a sound for its radio broadcasting services in 1950.
2. MGM’s lion’s roar
3. The song “Sweet Georgia Brown” for The Harlem Globetrotters
4. Tetris’ “electronic Russian folkstyle tune,” owned by Elorg Company
5. Intel’s 5 note ding
6. “D’Oh” spoken by Homer is owned by Fox
7. The 9 bars of musical chord in the key of B Flat that typically opens a Twentieth Century Fox movie
8. Looney Toons Theme Song, owned by Time Warner
9. The spoken letters “AT&T” with a music in the background
10. “Cha-Ching,” owned by Checker’s Restaurants
11. “Yahoo!” sung in a yodeling style
12. Nokia’s default ringtone
13. Mister Softee’s Jingle
14. “Hello and Welcome to Moviefone,” owned by America Online
15. The sound of the crowd & bell from the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor
16. TiVo’s popping sounds (in 2 and 6 tones)
17. Pillsbury Doughboy’s giggle

Can’t you just hear them already? If not, head over to the US and Patent Trademark Office where they have sound files to refresh your memory.

Digg this if you like it. Thanks!

Quick Fact

rickyv:

The number of children in China who take piano lessons > the total number of US children

Wow

chriskimber:

xfiles was pretty shit

Oh, pretty gay. Still want to see it tho.

For fuck sake!

Who would have thought finding a place in seven days would have been so hard.

Well we haven’t done it yet, most of the week was wasted trying to find a three bedroom place - until the third guy wanted to go it alone, he said he would be very demanding and wanted to live on his own. Fair enough, so we used the remaining time looking for 2 bed places.

Confirmed one really nice place, ready to get the contract to sign and what a surprise, it’s been taken by someone else. Today we looked around two places, neither really very good, the first one had a really nice landlord and the place wasn’t too bad, but not that good really either. Was more like a student gaff. Second, I can’t put my finger on why it wasn’t good enough - but it wasn’t really where I want to live.

So tomorrow morning - the last day we have accomodated here in Belgium, we look at another in Schuman. Nice district, near the EU building. 7th floor - I hope they have a lift. I really hope this is a nice place. If not, I will stay on for a few days out here, get a hostel somewhere. Maybe Leuven because it’s cheaper than the city centre itself, and I’d like to visit it too.

Just… what a massive drag this has become. Disappointment after disappointment, being let down by annoying, lazy, rude or unprofessional estate agents and homeowners, or just the houses themselves.

I really hope living here isn’t this hard, that would be massively shit.

So now to tidy this room up, pack my things, reconcile all the people I’ve emailed for tomorrow to chase them up so we can get more viewings, look at hostels for tomorrow night, rearrange my transport home, get 4 hours sleep and get up to view this place. Moving is well fun!