Mariah Carey loses out on ‘Queen of Christmas’ trademark amid ‘bullying’ accusation

Mariah Carey hasn't been able to trademark the title of "Queen of Christmas". Photo / Greg Bowker

All she wanted for Christmas was a trademark, but Mariah Carey’s effort to ring fence the sobriquet “Queen of Christmas” has been denied by US bureaucrats after a legal challenge accused her of “trademark bullying”.

The singer, a large part of whose music is synonymous with the festive season, has long been known by her preferred nickname. But an attempt to make it legally hers - and therefore ripe for monetisation - has been halted by the US Patent and Trademark Office after a complaint was lodged by another singer.

Carey’s hit, All I Want For Christmas Is You, has charted regularly in the US during the Christmas period since its original release in 1994, and has grossed more than US$72 million ($124m) in royalties. Last year, it was streamed one billion times on Spotify alone.

Carey’s album - Merry Christmas - was a mix of covers and originals including, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Silent Night and Jesus Born On This Day.

As such, Carey’s company Lotion LLC applied for the phrases, “Queen of Christmas” and “Princess Christmas”, and the acronym “QOC” to be trademarked last year.

Significant ‘overreach’

But lawyers for Elizabeth Chan, a singer-songwriter, said it was “a classic case of trademark bullying” and a significant “overreach”.

Chan was herself dubbed the “Queen of Christmas” by the New Yorker magazine in 2018, in recognition of her releasing an original festive record every year for a decade.

Her problem was with the motivation behind Carey’s desire to have legal control of the moniker forever.

“I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolise it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity,” Chan said in an interview with Variety in August.

“That’s just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It’s meant to be shared. It’s not meant to be owned.”

Chan went on to say Carey had been “trying to trademark this in every imaginable way” from music, clothing and alcohol, to “masks, dog collars - it’s all over the map”.

“If you knit a ‘Queen of Christmas’ sweater, you should be able to sell it on Etsy to somebody else so they can buy it for their grandma,” she went on. “It’s crazy - it would have that breadth of registration.”

Carey’s company did not respond to Chan’s opposition in time, so the trademark was not granted.

Carey’s representatives have been approached for comment.