The singer had tried to obtain the legal right to prevent others from using the phrase on music and merchandise.
Carey has long-been associated with the festive period owing to the success and seeming ubiquity of her track ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, which she first recorded in 1994, and rerecorded as a duet with Justin Bieber in 2011.
The track has topped the Billboard Holiday 100 chart in the US for a record 51 cumulative weeks, of the chart’s 56 total weeks since it launched in 2011. Although, here in the UK, it would be as recently as 2020 that the tune managed to score a number one in the UK singles chart.
The track’s success, however, wasn’t enough to convince a judge to grant Carey’s application for the title – nor other trademark attempts made by the singer, including the abbreviation “QOC” and “Princess Christmas”.
In fact, Carey’s claim led to moves from other artists to legally challenge her. Singer-songwriter Elizabeth Chan had in fact put in a legal challenge in August to try and stop Carey in her attempt to assume the name. Chan has put out original Christmas records every year for more than a decade, and was incidentally dubbed “Queen of Christmas” by The New Yorker in 2018 for her festive feats.
“I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolise it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity,” Chan told Variety at the time.
“That’s just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It’s meant to be shared; it’s not meant to be owned.”
Carey’s patent application also drew the ire of L.A. veteran singer and actress Darlene Love, who sung ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ along with a number of Christmassy covers.
“Is it true that Mariah Carey trade marked “Queen of Christmas”? What does that mean that I can’t use that title?” Love wrote on her Facebook page in August.
“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. I’ve been in the business for 52 years, have earned it and can still hit those notes! If Mariah has a problem call David or my lawyer!!”
All Carey wanted for Christmas was a new patent approval – but, thankfully for Chan and Love at least, that’s now been denied.
