Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You and Trademark Law

For nearly 30 years, Mariah Carey’s “All I Need for Christmas is You” has been a dependable, although typically derided, a part of the vacation season, taking part in continuously on tv and radio, and in shops and eating places. Final 12 months, her firm, Lotion, LLC, filed functions to register CHRISTMAS PRINCESS, QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS, and QOC (the initials of “Queen of Christmas”) in reference to not solely sound recordings and leisure providers, but in addition fragrances, jewellery, attire, glassware, and meals merchandise. All these functions, like her earlier functions for ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS and ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU for equally broad items and providers, are intent-to-use functions, which means that whereas she plans to make use of these marks for all of those items, she just isn’t doing so but.

A trademark doesn’t include a crown or authority, however previous pop stars have claimed royal logos (most notably registrations for KING OF POP and KING OF ROCK ‘N ROLL for Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley; Madonna by no means bothered with QUEEN OF POP) to nice advertising and marketing and merchandising success. Whether or not or not she actually is the “Queen of Christmas,” Carey’s registration of QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS may assure her a distinct segment within the vacation market, whether or not or not her music stays as ubiquitous because it has been for the previous many years.

Dominant although Mariah Carey’s music is, she has not secured the title QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS fairly but. Elizabeth Chan, who describes herself as “pop music’s solely full-time Christmas singer songwriter,” has opposed Lotion’s functions for QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS and QOC. Chan claims that she and a number of different singers have been variously dubbed the “Queen of Christmas” and that some, like Chan, have embraced the title, whereas others, together with Carey, have distanced themselves from it (citing an interview with Carey from after her submitting of the functions). The opposition has simply gotten began, and it is going to be attention-grabbing to see if Chan is ready to hold Carey from claiming QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS or if Carey will get “all she desires for Christmas.” A sensible branding technique can bestow enduring worth onto one success.