It’s official: Mariah Carey can’t be the only artist to wear the “Queen of Christmas” crown.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on Tuesday terminated Carey’s bid to trademark the title after the musician and her company, Lotion LLC, failed to respond to fellow singer Elizabeth Chan’s opposition to Carey’s trademark claim.
Carey’s “Queen of Christmas” trademark would have allowed her to brand a wide range of products, including fragrances, lotions, nail polish, jewelry, cups, mugs, sweatshirts, food and drink, ornaments and music, according to her application filed with the U.S Trademark Office in March 2021.
Carey’s claim to the Christmas throne seemed legitimate. The multi-Grammy-winning pop singer’s 1994 single “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is a staple of the holiday season. A year ago it became the first holiday single to be certified diamond by the Recording Industry Assn. of America.
But when Carey’s attempt to trademark “Queen of Christmas” became public in July, several other singers associated with the holiday — including Darlene Love, whose “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is another seasonal classic — protested Carey’s move.
“Is it true that Mariah Carey trade marked ‘Queen of Christmas’?” Love wrote on Facebook in August. “What does that mean that I can’t use that title? 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.”
Love promptly celebrated the trademark board’s decision.
“Thank you, Lord!!” Love wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “Congrats to all the other Queen of Christmases around the world, living and whom have passed!”
Chan, who filed the opposition to Carey’s trademark in August, has made a career out of Christmas music albums and calls herself “the world’s only full-time pop Christmas recording artist.” She also welcomed Tuesday’s news ofCarey losing her trademark bid.
“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,” Chan said in a statement to The Times.
She said her goal was to protect against “trademark bullying” and to allow other artists such as herself to continue using the title.
The trademark board also rejected Carey’s application to trademark “Princess Christmas,” due to Chan’s opposition. However, Carey’s bid to trademark “Christmas Princess” is still pending and so far has not seen any opposition. Carey published a children’s book with the same name in 2021 and features herself as a child as the main character.
In recent years, Carey has capitalized on Christmas branding. In 2020, she released an Apple+ Christmas special, which garnered a Primetime Emmy nomination. This December, Carey plans to showcase a mini Christmas tour, including a pair of shows at Madison Square Garden in New York.
On Halloween night, Carey posted an Instagram reel in which the pop singer was dressed in a black catsuit and witch’s hat while pedaling on a workout bike in a spooky, barren forest. Then, after a menacing laugh, the black-and-white frame gave way to amber Christmas lights and sparkling gifts.
Carey then sat atop a stuffed reindeer, her blond locks glowing, dressed in her iconic red Santa jumpsuit. “It’s time,” she sang in her signature whistle note, ushering in the opening chords of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and what Carey called in the caption “#MariahSZN.”
“Just. In. Time.” commented actor and comedian Yvonne Orji. “This elf is ready!” exclaimed filmmaker and comedian Billy Eichner. Paris Hilton left a row of heart eyes emojis. And Kerry Washington joined the chorus with a coronation of sorts: “Queen of Christmas is HERE!!!”