Only one of the competing Christmas queens will be able to don the crown or wreath. Mariah Carey filed the trademark "Queen of Christmas" along with a number of other associated terms, which sparked a dispute with at least two of her fellow judges in the musical Christmas court show. She actually only wants the exclusive right to sell goods with the names "Queen of Christmas," "QOC," "Princess of Christmas," and "Christmas Princess" on them during the holiday season.
Carey applied for registration of her trademark in March 2021, but Elizabeth Chan, a fellow singer of holiday tunes, has now formally opposed her registration. Chan has earned a living writing and publishing Christmas music for the past ten years.
She adopted the appellation as the title of her 2021 album after being dubbed "the Queen of Christmas" in a 2018 story in the New Yorker. How much does Chan adore the holiday season? She named her first child Noelle and founded a record label called Merry Bright Music. She obviously wasn't happy with Carey's trademark application and recently submitted a declaration to the trademark appeals board in an attempt to stop it from being approved.
Chan told Variety in an interview, "I feel very passionately that no one individual should cling onto anything surrounding Christmas or monopolise it in the way that Mariah attempts to in perpetuity." "Everyone can celebrate Christmas. It's not designed to be owned; rather, it's supposed to be shared.
Chan wants to continue allowing anyone who wants to use the title of "Queen of Christmas" to do so, including musicians, Etsy store owners, and, yes, even Carey, only without the trademark. Chan's attorney, Lous. W. Tompros, also noted in the declaration that Carey had previously rejected the moniker "Queen of Christmas."
In an interview with The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show in 2021, she stated, "That was other people, and I just want to respectfully say that I don't consider myself that." She said, "Mary is the Queen of Christmas," and added, "I'm someone who loves Christmas and happened to be blessed to write 'All I Want for Christmas Is You.'"
Carey's allusion to "other people" referred to as the queen of Christmas is likely a reference to Brenda Lee ("Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree") and Darlene Love ("Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," who were both given the title by David Letterman three decades ago. Chan submitted her proclamation, and Love responded to it on Facebook. "Does Mariah Carey really have a trademark on 'Queen of Christmas'? I can't use that title, what does that mean?" she asked, tagging Carey's official Facebook page.
"I was crowned the Queen of Christmas by David Letterman 29 years ago, one year before she published 'All I Want for Christmas Is You,' and at 81, I'm NOT changing a thing," she said. Love issued a direct challenge to Carey at the end of her message, adding, "If Mariah has a problem, call David or my lawyer!" Later, she jokingly suggested that she could register her name as a trademark "so that you all can't use it."
I hope Carey thinks about how these behaviours might affect her chances of being a Naughty or Nice person this year as the competition for the Christmas throne intensifies.