News - 4 May 2023 10:30

Katy Perry loses trademark battle with fashion designer Katie Perry

Pop singer Katy Perry has lost a 15-year trademark dispute with an Australian fashion designer Katie Perry.

Katie Taylor, who sells clothing under her birth name Katie Perry, filed a lawsuit against the pop diva, alleging that her merchandise violated a trademark she held.

The Australian designer launched her clothing business in late 2006 and registered “Katie Perry” as a trademark in Australia in 2008.

During the same year, pop star Katy Perry, whose real name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, shot to fame with her hit song I Kissed A Girl.

In 2009, the singer filed a trademark for “Katy Perry”, and a legal notice was sent to the fashion designer asking her to stop the sale of her clothing, take the website offline, and halt all her advertisements.

She even made unsuccessful attempts to prevent the designer from registering the trademark “Katie Perry” as she believed it was “misleading and deceptive”.

According to a recent decision by Justice Brigitte Markovic of the Federal Court of Australia, the pop star's tweets and Facebook posts which promoted various clothing items and a pop-up store violated the “Katie Perry” trademark.

"This is a tale of two women, two teenage dreams, and one name," Markovic said in the judgment.

The judge ruled that the singer did not owe the designer any personal compensation because she used the “Katy Perry” name in "good faith".

However, her company, Kitty Purry, was found to have infringed the “Katie Perry” trademark by advertising and selling clothing items during the 2014 Australian tour and is liable to pay monetary damages.

The fashion designer hailed the outcome as a "David and Goliath" win.

PitchMark covered a story about Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival's organizers accusing a cannabis business park Coachillin Holdings in California of trademark infringement for adopting and using the term "Coachillin", a term associated with Coachella’s music festival.

PitchMark helps innovators deter idea theft, so that third parties that they share their idea with get the idea but don’t take it. Visit PitchMark.net and register for free as a PitchMark member today.

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