Home / Insights / Is the Second Time the Charm for Beyoncé and JayZ to Trademark BLUE IVY CARTER?

Is the Second Time the Charm for Beyoncé and JayZ to Trademark BLUE IVY CARTER?

by | Jan 14, 2025 | Intellectual Property, Trademark

Back in 2012, Beyoncé and JayZ attempted to get a trademark for the name of their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, not long after her birth. Their reason? The Carters did not want people profiting off of their little girl’s name and saw the trademark registration as a means for protection. More on that in a bit.

That trademark application hit a roadblock due to an event planning company which already held the mark for BLUE IVY. Tom Brady ran into a similar problem in his attempt to get a trademark for ‘Tom Terrific’.

Eventually, in 2020, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decided against the event planning company, arguing that confusion between BLUE IVY and BLUE IVY CARTER was “unlikely” due to “dissimilar” services. Unfortunately for the Carters, their application was abandoned when the appropriate paperwork for filing a Statement of Use was not filed by the deadline causing the application to be abandoned. 

That was the end of matters until November 2023, when Beyoncé’s legal team refiled the trademark application for BLUE IVY CARTER. This time, a trademark examiner rejected the mark, finding it “confusingly similar” to the ‘Blue Ivy’ logo of a Wisconsin clothing store. Beyoncé’s team fought this rejection, arguing that “the parties each exist and thrive in their own separate worlds” and that the public would associate their daughter with a trademark that is literally her name.

This is where things stand now, but the whole situation brings up two important questions:

  1. Should there be a different trademark standard for well-known public figures and
  2. Is a trademark registration even necessary when other protections exist to prevent people from using public figures’ names without permission?

Different Levels of Fame, Different Standards?

The potential argument here is that some people are so well-known to the public that certain trademarks will make the public think of them even if they are not associated with that mark. 

For example, there could be people out there who immediately think of Blue Ivy Carter when they see that Wisconsin store’s ‘Blue Ivy’ logo, or the earlier event planning company that also held a BLUE IVY mark. This despite the fact that the Carters’ daughter has nothing to do with either business.

If you subscribe to the idea that that argument is valid, allowing the Carters to get a trademark registration for their daughter’s name might make sense as a way to fight back against consumer confusion and misuse.

That, however, is not how things are supposed to work. In order to receive a trademark registration, the standards are the same regardless of whether you are someone with worldwide renown or the owner of a local business:

  • You need to provide evidence of your mark being sufficiently different from existing trademarks and
  • show that it is being used as a clear source identifier for goods or services that you offer.

Then there is the fact that protections already exist for people in the public eye.

Does Blue Ivy Carter Even Need Trademark Protection?

The Carters say they want the mark to protect their daughter’s name, but there are already safeguards in place. While nothing is foolproof, the USPTO has standards that enable them to deny applications they deem to be “opportunistic.” For example, if the applicant seems to be claiming a false relationship with a famous institution or individual, the USPTO can reject it.

Moreover, any application that includes a mark with someone’s real name must also include written consent from the person in question. In short, the law already says that express permission needs to be given in order to use a famous name in a mark.

Bottom line? Whether or not to award a trademark registration for BLUE IVY CARTER is a complicated question that goes to the root of why trademark registrations were created in the first place. Stay tuned to see how this fascinating case unfolds. 

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