Mariah Carey’s application to be officially recognized as the “Queen of Christmas” was rejected by US regulators.
Last Thursday, the US Patent and Trademark Office denied the singer’s application to trademark the name following opposition from another singer who has used the moniker before.
With the trademark, Mariah had the legal right to prevent the name “Queen of Christmas” from being used on other music or merchandise.
The US authority also ruled that the singer could neither trademark the name’s abbreviation “QOC” nor “Princess Christmas.”
Carey has been seen as a symbol of the holidays ever since her 1994 hit song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was released. Her company, Lotion LLC, applied to trademark the nickname some fans had given it in the past year.
But singer Elizabeth Chan, who describes herself as “the world’s only full-time Christmas pop artist,” filed a legal challenge to block Mariah from obtaining the trademark in August.
Chan was dubbed “Queen of Christmas” by The New Yorker in 2018 after putting out original holiday albums every year for 10 years.
The holiday music singer has also used the moniker “Princess Christmas” for her five-year-old daughter and sometime collaborator Noelle.
After filing a legal opposition to block Lotion LLC’s bid to trademark the name, Chan criticized Mariah for trying to “monetize Christmas.”
Speaking to Variety, she said: “I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolize it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity.”
Chan also revealed that Mariah had tried to trademark the nickname “in every imaginable way,” including clothing, alcohol, and music. “Masks, dog collars – it’s all over the map,” she added.
“If you knit a ‘Queen of Christmas’ sweater, you should be able to sell it on Etsy to someone else so they can buy it for their grandma. It’s crazy – it would have that breadth of registration,” Chan went on.
In an interview with Page Six, Chan also tearfully said: “I did this to protect and save Christmas. Christmas isn’t about one single person — it’s about everybody.”
Chan’s attorney, Louis Trompos of WilmerHale, described the case as “trademark bullying” and said he was pleased with the victory over Carey’s “overreaching trademark registrations.”
Other musicians, including “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” singer Darlene Love also objected to Mariah’s bid to register the name.
