Perhaps more than any other singer of the past three decades or so, Mariah Carey is firmly associated with Christmas. In an unsurprising move, she’s in the process of trying to trademark the term “Queen Of Christmas,” but she’s facing opposition from a couple of other singers who are also strongly tied to the December holiday.
Variety reports that through her attorney, Elizabeth Chan, who exclusively sings Christmas music, filed a formal declaration of opposition to Carey’s trademark claim. Chan told the publication:
“Christmas has come way before any of us on Earth, and hopefully will be around way after any of us on Earth, and I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolize it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity. That’s just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It’s meant to be shared; it’s not meant to be owned.
And it’s not just about the music business. She’s trying to trademark this in every imaginable way — clothing, liquor products, masks, dog collars — it’s all over the map. If you knit a ‘queen of Christmas’ sweater, you should be able to sell it on Etsy to somebody else so they can buy it for their grandma. It’s crazy — it would have that breadth of registration.”
Chan also noted she has been called the “Queen Of Christmas” many times in the media, with the first instance of it coming in 2014 and most notably in a 2018 New Yorker profile titled simply, “The Queen Of Christmas.”
Per Billboard, Chan’s lawyer Louis Tompros wrote, “Christmas is big enough for more than one ‘Queen.’ But this opposition proceeding is sadly necessary because Ms. Carey’s Lotion LLC company is nevertheless trying to claim sole ownership of the title and designation ‘Queen of Christmas.’”
The publication also notes, “If Chan wins her case, it doesn’t mean Carey must stop using the name herself — only that she cannot stop others from using it, too.”
Also speaking out against the trademark is Darlene Love, who sang on the 1963 album A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector and sang “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on Late Night With David Letterman every year from 1986 to 2014. In a Facebook post yesterday, she wrote, “Is it true that Mariah Carey trade marked “Queen of Christmas”? [crying laughing emoji] What does that mean that I can’t use that title? [thinking emoji] David Letterman officially declared me the Queen of Christmas 29 years ago, a year before she released ‘All I want For Christmas Is You’ and at 81 years of age I’m NOT changing anything. I’ve been in the business for 52 years, have earned it and can still hit those notes! If Mariah has a problem call David or my lawyer!!