Katie Taylor, fashion designer from Sydney and founder of the brand “Katie Perry”, won the legal dispute with the American singer Katy Perry, after almost 16 years of lawsuits, notes The Guardian.
The High Court of Australia has ruled that the ‘Katie Perry’ mark used by the clothing designer does not infringe the law and does not create confusion with the artist’s ‘Katy Perry’ mark, regardless of the singer’s notoriety at the time of registration.
Katie Taylor, born Katie Perry, applied for the name to be registered as a business in April 2007 and later as a clothing brand in September 2008, before Katy Perry became a household name in Australia.
The dispute began in 2009, when Katy Perry challenged the registration of the “Katie Perry” trademark in court and sent the designer legal notices asking him to stop using the name for clothes. In July 2009, the “Katie Perry” trademark was officially registered in Australia, and the singer’s “Katy Perry” trademark, which did not cover clothing products, was only registered in 2011.
In 2019, Katie Taylor sued the singer for unauthorized use of the name in the field of clothing, and the court won her case in 2023. The court found that the brand “Kitty Purry”, used by Katy Perry to sell clothes during the Prismatic tour in 2014, was an infringement of the designer’s rights.
The decision of the Australian Supreme Court now confirms Katie Taylor’s right to legally use the name “Katie Perry” for her clothing brand.
