“Blue Ivy Carter” Trademark Dispute

As reported by ENews, Beyoncé and her holding company, BGK Trademark Holdings LLC (“BGK”), have been embroiled in a trademark dispute against Veronica Morales, the owner of a Massachusetts-based wedding planning business.

In 2016, the superstar filed a trademark application in respect of her daughter’s name, “Blue Ivy Carter,” which claimed that the seven-year-old “cultural icon” had created her own brand. Morales opposed the application on the grounds that she had already registered a similar trademark over Blue Ivy in 2012, and had been operating her business under the name “Blue Ivy Event” for three years prior to that registration.

According to the DailyMail, Beyoncé dismissed Morales’s claim that BGK’s trademark would cause confusion, noting that the presence of the word “'Carter’ ties the commercial impression of BGK’s mark to the celebrity Blue Ivy Carter rather than the Opposer’s regional event planning business.”

BGK has requested that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismiss Morales’s opposition.

Author: Meg King and Ida Mahmoudi, 2019/2020 Articling Student-at-law