Katie Perry, the Australia-based fashion designer, has won a trademark dispute in the High Court against pop star Katy Perry, in a case which started in 2009.

On September 29, 2008, Katie Jane Taylor became the registered owner of the trademark Katie Perry for clothing. Katie Perry is Taylor’s maiden name. On November 7, 2011, world-renowned singer Katy Perry became the registered trademark holder for ‘Katy Perry’ for recording discs and entertainment, otherwise known as a singer’s mark.

Taylor had been selling clothes with the Katie Perry brand name since 2007.

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson – better known as pop star Katy Perry – first planned to release merchandise in Australia in 2008. In July that year, before Hudson arrived in Australia, Taylor said she first heard about Katy Perry when listening to the radio. 

One month later, Taylor realised that she had not paid the registration fee for her original Katie Perry trademark for her clothes, the High Court said. Taylor then applied to register the designer’s mark as the owner, triggering a period during which opposition to the mark could be filed.

Taylor received a letter in May 2009 from a lawyer representing Hudson, demanding that the application for the designer’s mark be withdrawn.

Eventually, the two obtained separate trademarks: a designer’s mark for Taylor, and a singer’s mark for Hudson for the similar, but independent brand names. In 2019, Taylor took Hudson to the Federal Court for infringements on her designer’s mark.

The long-running case sought to determine who had the right to sell clothing under that name. Representatives of Katy Perry told Inside Retail that the singer never sought to close down Taylor’s label during the litigation process.

The designer won the case at first, only to lose on appeal. The Federal Court ruled that the singer Katy Perry had a reputation in Australia prior to the clothing brand’s establishment. The case was escalated to the High Court following the appeal.

In a majority decision by the High Court published today, the court found that Taylor’s use of her designer’s mark to sell Katie Perry-branded clothing “would not be likely to deceive”, adding that the singer failed to demonstrate any consumer confusion.

Katie Perry has been awarded costs following the conclusion of the case.