First Tarzan was robbed of his unique signature look when Arnold Schwarzenegger became the second muscled man to appear in public dressed in skimpy leopardprint briefs, glistening with baby oil, and communicating in an indecipherable tongue. Now the jungle-dweller's creator has lost a trademark battle to claim Tarzan's ululating yodel as his alone.

So Tarzan's distinctive animalistic yell joins all the other sounds that might deserve their own trademark, but which may now be aped by all.

These include the subtle screeching noise made by Gordon Brown performing a U-turn on calling a snap general election; or the gentle whooshing sound a prince makes when rushing from his mother's Norfolk estate, where two protected birds of prey have been shot, to attend a low-key official function in Portsmouth.

Then there is the barely audible pitter-patter sound of the feet of bookbuyers stampeding to purchase a copy of Anne Enright's Man Booker-winner, The Gathering, in their hunger to read yet another novel about a miserable Irish family.

And what about the “yak-yak-yak” warble of Heather Mills maintaining a discreet silence over her divorce settlement negotiations? Or the famous “bong” sound of Sir Trevor McDonald bouncing back to host a revived News at Ten as ITV tries to claw back credibility after its phone-in scandals? Or the sonorous nasal rattle of someone dozing through an Alistair Darling speech? Then there is the distinctive grunting and squealing of our beloved tennis players — the Sharapova Shriek has already been copyrighted, so watch your mouth on court.