Pop star Katy Perry won an appeal on Friday in a trademark case brought by Australian fashion designer Katie Taylor, who markets her clothing under the name Katie Perry, USA Today reported.
A panel of three judges overturned a 2023 ruling that had sided with Taylor, allowing Katy Perry (born Katheryn Hudson) to continue using her stage name to sell merchandise in Australia despite Taylor’s trademark claim.
The judges determined that Perry had used her name as a trademark for five years before Taylor began her clothing business and already had an “international reputation in music and entertainment, if not more broadly.” As a result, Perry was deemed entitled to use her stage name in Australia.
The court also cancelled Taylor’s trademark registration, according to USA Today.
“This case is unfortunate in that two enterprising women in different countries independently adopted their name as a trademark, unaware of each other’s existence,” the judges wrote in their decision. They also noted that Taylor had, at times, appeared to associate herself with Perry, raising the risk of consumer confusion or deception.
However, little confusion resulted, and the court found. Since Perry offered both women rights to the trademarked name in 2009, which Taylor rejected, the judges ruled that Taylor’s own trademark license would need to be cancelled. “In that sense, (Taylor) has brought this result on herself. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to return to the time of peaceful co-existence,” they wrote.
Disappointed with the decision, Taylor told The Guardian, “This case proves a trademark isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.”
She went on to say: “My fashion label has been a dream of mine since I was 11 years old and now that dream that I have worked so hard for, since 2006, has been taken away.”
“I have lost everything, including my trademark. As you can imagine I’m devastated,” she told The New York Post.