Mariah Carey officially not the ‘Queen of Christmas,’ trademark officials rule
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Mariah Carey is officially not the “Queen of Christmas,” according to the U.S Patent and Trademark Office.
On Tuesday, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denied Carey’s attempt to trademark the monikers “Queen of Christmas,” “QOC,” and “Princess of Christmas.”
The singer, whose holiday music has become a staple on December, had applied for the exclusive rights to use the terms in early 2021.
If granted, Carey, 53, would’ve been able to use the title in the sale of merchandise, sue anyone using the moniker, or even have the legal right to stop any media outlet from referring to anyone else as the “Queen of Christmas.”
Several artists expressed opposition to Carey’s proposal, including Darlene Love whose holiday classic, “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home),” was released as an animated video in 2020, and Elizabeth Chan, who sees herself as “pop music’s only full-time Christmas singer.”
Earlier this year, Chan — whose 12th album, “12 Months of Christmas,” was released last month — filed a formal declaration of opposition against the “Fantasy” singer’s trademark claim.
The Manhattan resident, who has released exclusively Christmas music for the last 10 years, said that nobody should monopolize Christmas.
“No one should ever own the word ‘Christmas,’ " Chan told the Daily News in August. “Christmas is for everyone.”
Chan’s attorney Louis Tompros called Carey’s application a “classic case of trademark bullying.”
“Christmas is a season of giving, not the season of taking, and it is wrong for an individual to attempt to own and monopolize a nickname like Queen of Christmas for the purposes of abject materialism,” Chan told The News in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
”As an independent artist and small business owner, my life’s work is to bring people together for the holiday season, which is how I came to be called the Queen of Christmas,” she added. “My goal in taking on this fight was to stand up to trademark bullying not just to protect myself, but also to protect future Queens of Christmas.”
