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19 February 2018Trademarks

Wedding request emerges in Beyoncé trademark feud

Lawyers acting for singer Beyoncé have hit out against the woman challenging Beyoncé’s trademark application for ‘Blue Ivy Carter’.

In a motion to compel discovery responses, submitted on Thursday, February 15, Beyoncé’s lawyers claimed that Veronica Morales, who has opposed the trademark application, is looking for Beyoncé to acquire her wedding planning business.

Morales owns the mark ‘Blue Ivy’, covering class 35 (event planning) and class 41 (wedding planning consultation services).

Marvin Putnam, a partner at Latham & Watkins and representative of BGK Trademark (Beyoncé’s holding company), noted that after Morales had opposed the trademark, she invited BGK’s counsel to meet.

According to Putnam, Morales’s counsel presented a PowerPoint slideshow describing her wedding planning business and proposing that BGK purchase that business for a minimum of $10 million.

“In addition, opposer’s counsel gave a lengthy speech about how the opposition proceeding—which it initiated—should be looked upon by BGK as an opportunity for a business relationship, not an adversarial proceeding,” said the motion.

The motion to compel was filed because, Putnam claims, Morales has not come close to meeting the discovery obligations.

“Opposer’s document production is demonstrably incomplete, and substantively inconsistent with many of its responses to BGK’s interrogatories,” said the motion.

It added that Morales’s counsel has “failed to accurately and fully respond to many of BGK’s interrogatories”.

Beyoncé’s lawyers also claimed that, after making a “deficient production”, the opposer “improperly clawed back 12 documents based on erroneous claims of attorney-client privilege”.

The lawyers are now seeking production of information on the sales pitch and Morales’s subsequent efforts to sell the business.

In October last year, WIPR  reported that Beyoncé had defended her request to keep parts of a dispute over the ‘Blue Ivy’ trademark confidential in order to ensure the “privacy and safety” of her and her family.

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More on this story

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5 October 2017   Beyoncé has defended her request to keep parts of a dispute over the ‘Blue Ivy’ trademark confidential in order to ensure the “privacy and safety” of her and her family.
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