Reports Sohh:
Young Money rapper Drake may need to simmer down his issues with retailers using the acronym “Y.O.L.O.” as new reports claim a restaurant owner trademarked it three years ago. According to reports, restaurant owner Tim Petrillo trademarked “Y.O.L.O.” back in January 2010.
Clean Plate Charlie spoke to restauranteur Tim Petrillo, co-owner of YOLO in Fort Lauderdale to get his take on Drake’s lawsuit threats. Petrillo’s response, “I think Drake saying that is such a joke.” Why so funny? Because Petrillo actually holds the YOLO trademark. So here it is: the actual copyright. And it doesn’t belong to Drake. Apparently, the rapper doesn’t know much about law. (Broward Palm Beach)
In late December, reports surfaced claiming “Y.O.L.O.’s” usage actually dates back to the 1700′s.
Drake, you need to calm down. You didn’t trademark YOLO. In fact, you weren’t even the first person to say it! The U.S. Trademark database actually shows several earlier attempts to use YOLO commercially. A company selling T-shirts, tank tops, hats, and sweatshirts filed an application in 1993 to obtain a trademark for YOLO. That filing was abandoned a year later, but other companies filed for trademarks or service marks incorporating YOLO and “You Only Live Once” for products like artificial suntanning, sportswear, and driver safety pamphlets, among others. But the acronym and the meaning behind it actually has a long history before the ’90s, dating all the way back to the 1700s, meaning no one alive today can claim the blame credit for it. While the exact wording changes a bit (with some incarnations employing “we” instead of “you,” or rearranging the order of the words themselves), the meaning is the same throughout history. Let’s take a look back at all the instances we could find of YOLO throughout the years. (NY Post)
Around the Christmas holiday, Drizzy called out a few notable retailers for selling merchandise bearing the catchphrase.
It’s true — you only do live once, and in this lifetime, Drake wants a check for all that YOLO merchandise. The Canadian teardrop shed the holiday spirit on Christmas Eve in favor of a capitalist one, uploading two photos to Instagram of YOLO clothing and demanding that someone cut him a check. The photos were taken in a Walgreens and a Macy’s, meaning that Drake is either a cheap and lazy Christmas shopper like the rest of us or he has a roving team of YOLO spies policing drug and department stores across the country (stop snitching!). (Gawker)
