11.3.2026
US pop star Katy Perry has lost her 16-year-old trademark dispute with Australian fashion designer Katie Taylor.
Katie Taylor had registered her fashion brand Katie Perry in April 2007 and then as a trademark in 2008, the same period Katy Perry released her debut album “I kissed a Girl.”
Taylor argued that she did not know about the singer at that time. The following year, Perry began selling her merchandise worldwide via her webstore — including to Australia — and in May 2009, Perry filed a notice of opposition to the registration of Taylor’s trademark as well as sent her cease-and-desist letters.
Taylor’s “Katie Perry” was registered in Australia in 2009, while the pop star registered her Katy Perry in Australia in 2011.
But Perry’s trademark didn’t include the sale of clothes, leading Taylor to sue Perry in federal court sometime around 2018; Taylor alleged her trademark had been infringed upon by the sale of Perry’s “Kitty Purry” merchandise in Australia, and Perry subsequently applied for the designer’s trademark to be cancelled, arguing that Taylor’s label was “likely to deceive or cause confusion” considering the singer’s recognizability.
Taylor initially won the case in 2023 but lost on appeal the following year when judges unanimously overturned the original findings in Perry’s favor. Taylor then took the case to Australia’s highest court. Those judges ruled that, because most of the merch Perry sold in Australia was clothes despite the “Katy Perry” trademark not extending to clothes, that the singer had “very much deliberate[ly]” infringed on Taylor’s copyright. With Guardian UK reports.