Cartoon stick figure with a yellow face modelled after The Simpsons saying “D’Oh!” like Homer Simpson — representing a blog post about The Simpsons and the D’Oh sound mark trademark registration.

Trademark: D’oh!

First Used: 2007* (see note below)

Registered: 2008

Current Owner: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION [1]

Trademark Type: non-traditional trademark; sound mark

Primarily Associated With: entertainment services in the nature of an animated television series [2]

Brief (and likely incomplete) History [3]:

The Simpsons began in 1987 as a cartoon short on the Tracey Ullman Show, a variety program on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The shorts became so popular that the decision was made to give The Simpsons its own dedicated show on primetime TV. The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989, with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." To call the show a hit would be a massive understatement. After entering its 21st season in late 2009, it overtook Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series. On April 2, 2025, the show was renewed for four additional 15-episode seasons on Fox (which would take it up to a 40th season). Today, both THE SIMPSONS® word mark [4] and the iconic The Simpsons Logo design mark [5] are registered trademarks.

The most famous sound on The Simpsons, and possibly the most famous catchphrase in television history, is Homer Simpsons’ “D’oh!” The origin of the D’oh! sound mark comes from the character’s long-time voice actor, Dan Castellaneta. In one of the first scripts, Homer's dialogue included an "annoyed grunt" (still used as a placeholder in scripts today!). Inspired by Jimmy Finlayson, a Scottish actor who appeared in many Laurel and Hardy films and used a drawn out "doooooh" to replace the word “Damn!”, Castellaneta initially mimicked him directly and similarly used a drawn out "doooooh" sound. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening thought shortening it would better suit the timing of animation, and “D’oh!” was born.

Homer first yelled “D’oh!” in a Tracey Ullman Show short entitled "Punching Bag", which aired on November 27, 1988, before then using it again in the first episode of The Simpsons in 1989. One intensive study found that Homer had said over 1,130 D’ohs by 2017, with Season 4 featuring the highest usage (100+ D’ohs) and Season 6 featuring the lowest usage (only twice in the entire season!).

The D’oh sound mark can be heard in full at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/76280750.mp3.

*You may have noticed that the D’oh sound mark registration lists July 14, 2007, as the first use date, but the phrase was used repeatedly on the show before then, including in shorts (1988) and in the show’s first episode (1989). Why was the 2007 date selected by Fox? Good question. The trademark application when filed in 2001 listed “As least as early as January 14, 1990” as the first use date. During prosecution of the application, Fox changed the filing basis to “intent-to-use” and then later submitted a specimen of use claiming the 2007 date of first use. Until we hear from Fox’s lawyers, your guess is as good as ours!