In a trademark dispute, having a big name sometimes guarantees a win, but only sometimes. When Katy Perry, the owner of five Billboard Music Awards and a judge on American Idol with 108 million followers on Twitter, held concerts in Australia in 2014 and 2018, she sold a lot of fashion products through retail and social media using the trademark “Katy Perry,” which is owned by her company, Killer Queen, LLC.
However, it turned out that there was already a similar trademark in Australia with a similar pronunciation, namely “Katie Perry” (with ie), which had been registered by a designer named Katie Taylor in the fashion category (Nice Class 25) since 2008. In 2009, Katy Perry’s lawyers actually tried to cancel Katie’s trademark and sent a “Cease and Desist Order” letter so she wouldn’t use the trademark again, but this effort was not pursued.
After Katy Perry’s 2018 concert, which once again sold fashion products, Katie decided to strike back by reporting “Katy Perry” for ignoring the existence of “Katie Perry,” which has homophonous and had already been officially registered in IP Australia
Finally, on Thursday, April 27, 2023, Australian Federal Court Judge Brigitte Markovic ruled that Killer Queen, LLC. had been proven to have infringed on some of Katie Taylor’s trademarks and ordered them to compensate for the damages with a certain amount that will be decided later.
In response to this victory, Katie Taylor made a statement on her website, “Not only have I fought [for] myself, but I fought for small businesses in this country, many of them started by women, who can find themselves up against overseas entities who have much more financial power than we do.
This victory could not have been achieved if Katie had not registered her trademark first. By registering a trademark, the owner obtains their rights, and the state provides legal protection so that the trademark’s economic rights are not violated.
In Indonesia, a trademark can only be protected if an application for registration is filed first, and prior use of the trademark cannot be used as a basis for protection. This is because the ‘First to File’ approach is adopted by Law No. 20 of 2016 concerning Trademarks and Geographical Indications.
If you need further information about trademark registration in Indonesia and other countries, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
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