Katie Perry vs. Katy Perry. Australian designer wins lawsuit against singer with whom she had been suing over name

Singer Katy Perry. Photo: Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images

Australian fashion designer Katie Perry (her name is spelled Katie Perry in English) has won an appeal in Australia's High Court in a years-long trademark dispute with her American namesake and pop star Katy Perry (her English spelling is slightly different: Katy Perry), writes the BBC.

On Wednesday, the High Court ruled that designer Katie Taylor, who uses her maiden name Perry in the name of her small company Katie Perry, did not damage the reputation of the American singer and did not cause confusion with her clothing brand (which was founded in 2007).

The designer won a lawsuit against the American singer two years ago, which was filed because the singer was selling her merchandise during performances in Australia.

The designer's lawsuit concerned the singer's named "merch" — hoodies, T-shirts, scarves, and track pants from her brand Kitty Purry, which were sold in stores and online during the performer's Australian tours in 2014.

At the time, the judge concluded that the singer's company, by selling and advertising goods through social networks, partially infringed on the rights to the Australian trademark Katie Perry, under which designer Katie Taylor sells her clothing online.

However, in 2024, this decision was overturned, and the designer's trademark was canceled.

In the new ruling, the court stated that singer Perry's reputation in Australia was so well-established that anyone who saw Taylor's clothing brand would not confuse the two names.

"It has been an incredibly long and arduous journey," Taylor said in a statement released shortly after the court's decision. "But today's decision confirms what I've always believed: trademarks should protect businesses of all sizes."

A representative for the American pop star stated that the singer "never tried to shut down Ms. Taylor's business or prevent her from selling clothes under the KATIE PERRY brand."

What is the essence of the dispute?

In 2007, Taylor — who at the time still used her maiden name — registered a business called Katie Perry and applied for a trademark.

Since 2008, she sold clothes at local markets, had a website, and several social media accounts under the Katie Perry brand.

However, in 2009, lawyers for singer Katy Perry asked Taylor to stop using the brand and announced their intention to challenge the trademark registration. They later dropped the legal action.

"When I started my brand, I had never heard of this singer," Taylor said. Court documents state that she first heard of Katy Perry in mid-2008 when the song "I Kissed A Girl" played on the radio.

"I was just building a fashion business under the name I was given at birth," the designer says.

In 2023, Taylor sued the singer for trademark infringement and won: the court ruled that the sale of jackets, hoodies, T-shirts, and track pants during the 2014 tour violated local law.

However, in 2024, this decision was overturned on appeal: judges indicated that Perry had been using her name as a trademark five years before Taylor started her business.

Taylor then called the case a "David and Goliath battle" and said she was devastated by the decision.

"This case was never just about a name," Taylor said after the latest court decision.

"It was about protecting small businesses in Australia, about standing up for justice and showing that each of us matters."

In recent years, Katy Perry has often been in the spotlight for various reasons — from being ridiculed after she kissed the ground upon exiting Blue Origin's spaceship, to her high-profile divorce from actor Orlando Bloom and her new relationship — with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

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