AHMEDABAD: Viral super hit ” Why this kolaveri di” may soon become the first song in India to have its first line trademarked. Why? Perhaps because Sony Music wants to use the world-famous phrase as a brand, and definitely because it wants to stop others from doing it.

Sony Music Entertainment India, which recorded the Tamil-English song that has become an international YouTube hit, filed for trademark registration of “Why this kolaveri di” last month, a person familiar with the development told ET.

Trademark registration under Class 9 and Class 41 will allow Sony to launch products such as compact disks, cassettes and SD cards as well as film and non-film entertainment content and talent discovery programmes branded “why this kolaveri di” and, more importantly, restrict others from doing it. “It is a smart move, a first of its kind in the Indian music industry,” says Abhishek Pandurangi, CEO of patents firm Closer2patents.

Amarendra Singh, who heads client services at advertising firm Grey Bangalore, says it’s a logical step for Sony to come out with merchandise and line extension to the song once it becomes a brand.

“There could launch lesser known artists in an album titled Kolaveri2, and the Kolaveri brand will ensure that the album gets sold out,” he says.

It is not clear if Sony Music plans to use “why this kolaveri di” as a brand. Company officials refused comment on the subject. Sony Music’s trademark documents, signed by its finance and administration director Sumit Chatterjee, were filed in Mumbai in early December.

“Kolaveri di” song, written and sung by actor Dhanush for Tamil film ‘3’, is now a case study on how viral marketing can create a cult following as it was watched by millions from all over the world within days of its digital release by Sony Music in the second week of November.

While the original song has received a never-before 20 million hits on YouTube, tens of different versions of the song in several languages are coming up everyday from across the globe.

“This song cuts across demographics and psychographics-from the rickshaw wallahs on the street to CEOs, all find the product entertaining,” says Grey Bangalore’s Singh.

Trademark lawyers Jatin Trivedi of YJ Trivedi & Co and Samrat Mehta of Mehta Legals say there is rarest possibility that such a trademark has ever been filed in India.

Kshitij Malhotra, CEO of Delhi-based Inohelp IP, says there are instances of advertisement punch lines, quotes and jingles of television commercials being filed for trademark.