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Mariah Carey loses bid to trademark ‘Queen of Christmas’

Elizabeth Chan and Darlene Love contested her trademark application and argued that they are also Christmas queens.

Mariah Carey might be known as the Queen of Christmas to her fandom, but on Nov. 15, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denied her exclusive legal rights to the title.

In March 2021, the “All I Want For Christmas” singer applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for rights to the title. Records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show that she had hoped to use the title to sell items such as perfume, clothing, footwear, and certain beverages.

In recent years, fans of the singer with a five-octave vocal range have turned to her to signal the Christmas season by saying, “it’s time!”

Just last month, on Oct. 31, the singer shared an Instagram post that further prompted fans to affirm that she was the Queen of Christmas.

The viral video began in black and white and saw Carey dressed as a wicked witch while pedaling on an exercise bike to the sounds of “The Wizard of Oz.” A dramatic gust of wind snatched the eerie scene away to reveal Carey in full color and dressed in a Santa-Clause suit. “It’s time!” she san in her signature high-pitched whistle as the early beats of “All I Want For Christmas is You” began to play.

“Queen of Christmas is HERE!!!” actor Kerry Washington wrote in response to the post.

“It’s officially that time of year!!!! #QoC” another fan of the video wrote.

Still, not all have been on board with the vocalist’s attempts to clinch the title of Christmas monarch all for herself.

In Aug. 2022, singers Elizabeth Chan and Darlene Love challenged Mariah Carey’s decision to trademark the title after the singer’s application was made public in July 2022.

Love is best known for her 1963 hit “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home.” Love appeared every year to sing on “Late Night with David Letterman “during the show’s 6-year run on NBC and throughout his time on “Late Show with David Letterman. “

“Christmas is a season of giving, not the season of taking, and it is wrong for an individual to attempt to own and monopolize a nickname like Queen of Christmas for the purposes of abject materialism,” said Chan in a press statement to media.

“As an independent artist and small business owner, my life’s work is to bring people together for the holiday season, which is how I came to be called the Queen of Christmas,” she added. “I wear that title as a badge of honor and with full knowledge that it will be — and should be — bestowed on others in the future... My goal in taking on this fight was to stand up to trademark bullying not just to protect myself but also to protect future Queens of Christmas.”

In 1994, Carey debuted her fourth studio album titled “Merry Christmas,” featuring cover versions of Christmas classics as well as the hit single “All I Want for Christmas Is You.“ The latter has become one of the best-selling singles of all time and one of the few modern songs to be affixed to the classic holiday music canon.