Katy Perry: US pop star loses trademark battle against fashion designer with same name
Katy Perry has lost a trademark battle with a Sydney-based fashion designer who was born with a differently spelled same name.
Katie Perry, now known as Katie Taylor, filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging the US popstar ignored the trademark and sold clothing to fans during her concert tours in Australia via retailers and websites in 2014 and 2018.
The Roar singer‘s company, Kitty Purry, partially infringed the trademark of Taylor’s business, which mostly sells clothing online, by promoting products through social media posts, a judge ruled.
Damages are due to be decided at a later date.
Citing Perry’s hit Teenage Dream, federal court judge Brigitte Markovic said in her judgement: “This is a tale of two women, two teenage dreams and one name.”
Judge Markovic dismissed a bid by the singer to cancel the Katie Perry trademark.
The judgement was made public after court documents were released on Thursday.
‘David and Goliath’ win for small businesses
Taylor hailed the verdict as a “David and Goliath” win for small businesses.
“Not only have I fought myself, but I fought for small businesses in this country, many of them started by women, who can find themselves up against overseas entities who have much more financial power than we do,” she wrote in a blog post.
The legal battle between the two women began in 2008, when Taylor registered the Katie Perry brand in Australia.
The singer initially tried to block the registration and later launched a legal bid to force the designer to cease and forever desist from using the trademark – but later abandoned the move, Taylor said.
She wrote on her blog: “When this all started back in 2009, I had been designing and manufacturing clothes in Australia under the name I was born with, Katie Perry, which I applied to register as a trade mark for my business – a logical next step. I had no knowledge of the singer at the time.
The star lost a trademark battle against an Australian fashion designer with the same name – but spelt differently Pic: AP
“Imagine my surprise when one of the reactions I received was a letter from lawyers representing the US singer, Katy Perry.
“They stated that I should immediately stop trading under this name, withdraw all my clothes and sign a document drafted by them to say that from then on I will never trade under this name ever again.
“A true case of David vs Goliath! I felt bullied, insulted and surprised.”
But Taylor vowed not to give in and instead “decided to fight against this injustice,” she wrote.
“I resisted an attack on me and the trademark.
“We established infringement and the cross claim was dismissed.”
The Roar singer, pictured in Los Angeles earlier this month, is due to perform at King Charles’s Coronation Concert on 7 May Pic: AP
The mother-of-two said she has been “bullied and trolled” during the case, with her family and friends also suffering abuse.
Taylor added: “This is a win for small business.
“My two young children have witnessed the importance of standing up for their values, no matter how hard it is.”
Katy Perry’s representatives have been contacted for comment.
The singer previously defeated an appeal in a $2.8m copyright battle after she was accused of plagiarising part of a rap track for her 2013 hit, Dark Horse.
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Ed Sheeran arrives at court
A jury ruled in favour of rapper Flame, real name Marcus Gray, but a federal appeals court decided Perry and her team were not liable to pay the sum, worth about £2.1m, in March last year.
A copyright court case alleging Ed Sheeran ripped off Marvin Gaye’s iconic track, Let’s Get It On, in his song Thinking Out Loud, began in the US this week.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Read more about Taylor Swift:
Swift’s final London show was the ‘best’
The impact of the ‘excruciating’ Era’s tour
Her new chart record
“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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