Singer Mariah Carey will not be able to call herself the legal Queen of Christmas after her trademark requests to claim that phrase as well as “Princess Christmas” and “QOC” were all denied by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
While Carey certainly has a stranglehold on the Christmas season ever since she released the song “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in 1994, her claim to trademark the Queen of Christmas honorific quickly received backlash from other singers Elizabeth Chan and Darlene Love.
IN MEMORIAM 2022: 100 GREAT CELEBRITIES WHO DIED THIS YEAR!
Chan, who is a self-proclaimed full-time Christmas singer, told Variety, “I feel very strongly that no person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolize it in the way Mariah seeks to in perpetuity.” Chan filed a formal opposition to Carey after the trademark claim was made public.
Love didn’t make any concrete legal claims, but protested Carey’s trademark move by noting that “David Letterman officially declared me 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.”
Love really does have several years on Carey in terms of Christmas songs, having sung several tunes on the Phil Spector collection Phil Spector’s Christmas Album in 1963. One of those best-known songs is “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” which sees huge airtime during the holidays and has been covered by Michael Bublé, U2, and Carey herself.
If Carey had won the trademark claim, she would have been legally allowed to sue anyone who used the title Queen of Christmas, and also to submit cease and desists to media entities that dare to give someone else that title. Carey is certainly deserving of being heavily associated with Christmas, but this legal move was pretty unnecessary and a step slightly too far even for a beloved Pop icon.
