Dark horse defeats pop star Katy Perry in name battle
What’s in a name?
For international pop star Katy Perry and Australian fashion designer Katie Perry, the answer may be found in a slight change in spelling and more than six years of litigation.
The battle over the rights to the Katie/Katy Perry name began when the designer, legally known as Katie Taylor, sued the artist behind Firework and Roar for trademark infringement.
The US singer, whose real name is Katheryn Hudson, hit back with an offer to cancel the designer’s trademark, suggesting it could damage her reputation or deceive shoppers.
The dispute has dragged on for more than six years after the pop star successfully overturned an initial Federal Court ruling that the designer’s trademark had been infringed.
But this came to a definitive end on Wednesday, when the country’s highest court ruled in favor of the Australians in the David and Goliath battle.
The Supreme Court ruled that the designer’s brand did not violate trademark law and was not likely to harm the Dark Horse singer’s reputation or cause confusion in majority decision.
Ms. Taylor’s lawyers argued during the hearing that customers were savvy enough to distinguish between the two spellings and would not associate the label with the pop star.
He claimed he was unaware of the singer’s existence when he first called the clothing brand in 2007.
But when Ms. Taylor applied to trademark the name Katie Perry, she heard I Kissed a Girl on the radio and purchased the song from iTunes.
Ms. Hudson had no way of knowing she would become so famous, her lawyer told the Supreme Court in September.
But the pop star’s lawyers argued that Ms. Taylor should have filed a complaint sooner rather than waiting 10 years after sales of Katy Perry-branded products began.
The designer faces the possibility of having his designer’s trademark registered revoked in 2023 after his victory in the Federal Court was overturned on appeal.
appeal judges found Katie Perry’s trademark was deceptively similar to the pop star’s trademark and would likely cause confusion.
But in a majority decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the appeal judges had erred in concluding that there were grounds to cancel the trademark.
The decision marks the end of a feud that has been going on since 2009, when Ms. Hudson learned the designer had applied to register the Katie Perry trademark.
According to court documents, the superstar told talent manager Steven Jensen to “leave me out of this completely.”
“I wouldn’t even bother with this (if) Mtv didn’t catch this nonsense,” he wrote in an email.
“Stupid bitch! Rawr!”
The singer has been ordered to pay Ms Taylor’s legal bill, with the figure to be determined at a later date.
The designer has been contacted for comment.
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