Heir to the Throne: Mariah Carey Becomes “Christmas Princess,” Loses Fantasy of Christmas “Queen”December 14, 2022

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has determined that Mariah Carey is officially not the Queen of Christmas. Recently, Carey’s trademark application for “Queen of Christmas” along with the related applications for “QOC” (short for Queen of Christmas) and “Princess Christmas” were rejected by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the USPTO. The applications subsequently went abandoned in November 2022.

Carey believed she was entitled to the mark “Queen of Christmas” due to her use of the term stemming from her massively popular holiday song “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which has become a modern Christmas classic. The refusal of Carey’s trademark applications was at least in part due to opposition from the musician Elizabeth Chan. Chan claimed that she too was deserving of the title “Queen of Christmas” and so filed an opposition to Carey’s marks “Princess Christmas,” “Queen of Christmas,” and its related moniker “QOC.” “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.

Despite the denial of her trademark applications, Carey is still pursuing several Christmas-related trademark applications. Her trademark applications for “Christmas Princess” (Ser. No. 90483483), “All I Want for Christmas” (Ser. No. 88632940), “All I Want for Christmas is You” (Ser. No. 88632977), and “Mariah Carey’s Christmas Special” (Ser. No. 90322605) have all received a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO, while the application for “Mariah’s Christmas . . . The Magic Continues” (Ser. No. 97054712) remains pending. Thus, for the time being, it looks like Carey will have to accept her position as heir apparent to the throne of Christmas.

Sarah M.D. Luth is an Intellectual Property Attorney in the MVS Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group. To learn more, visit our MVS website , or contact Sarah directly via email .