The Katy Perry Trade Mark War: Pop Icon Loses Court Battle Against Australian Clothing Designer

Seventeen years after music megastar, Katy Perry, and Sydney businesswoman, Katie Jane Taylor (nee Perry) first communicated about their similar names, the High Court of Australia has ruled in favour of the clothing designer.

The see-saw battle centred around who had the right to market and sell clothing under the Katie Perry/Katy Perry name in Australia.  The full judgement of the March 2026 ruling can be read here.

A trade marks attorney’s perspective

In my opinion, and I am sure in the opinion of many of my colleagues, this is a landmark ruling for the commercial world and particularly for smaller local businesses competing with global entities. 

It shows that regardless of the size, scale and scope of a brand, if the brand has accurate and appropriate trade mark protection, its legal rights will stand up to scrutiny when tested in a court of law.   

In this instance, case law has shown that the perceived power, prestige and popularity of a global brand is no match for regulatory compliance in terms of trade mark protection.  In my view, it demonstrates that a trade mark that is registered timeously, used correctly and diligently defended is capable of holding its own – even when litigation involves a David vs Goliath scenario.

The court ruling is a win for the ordinary person, and it signalled that it was Katie Perry, the Australian clothing designer and not Katy Perry the entertainer, who was doing the roaring.

The world of trade marks and intellectual property (IP) is my domain but as I am a trade marks attorney and not a lawyer, I am not able to provide litigation advice.  However, staying up-to-date with case law is essential to my practise as an expert in this complex field and like everyone else in this industry, I was eagerly awaiting the final outcome of this protracted dispute (see my earlier blog on this Katy/Katie Perry trade mark saga). 

Judgements like this inform Mark My Words Trademark Services’ advice to our clients and help us understand how the Australian regulators are likely to treat certain matters.

17 years of legal battles in a nutshell

Here’s a brief timeline of key moments in this long-running dispute.  Note that dates are approximate and the explanations in plain English and not complicated legal jargon – a hallmark of Mark My Words Trademark Services.

2007     Katie Taylor launches her fashion label in Sydney under her maiden name, Katie Perry and a few months later, files the brand name as a trade mark.  However, she in advertently failed to pay the required registration fee so the application lapsed.

2008     Tayor realises she had not paid the registration fee so files a fresh trade mark application, in relation to clothes, which subsequently registered in 2009.    Around this time, Katy Perry was starting to make a name for herself in the music industry.

2011     Katy Perry the singer, secured registration of a trade mark applied for in 2009. This trade mark does not cover clothing.

2019     Taylor takes action against the singer for trade mark infringement in the Federal Court in Australia and wins.  The singer then counter-sued.

2023      The Australian designer won the case that originated in 2019. However, the singer appealed.

2024     The case was back in court and this time, the Full Federal Court essentially overturned the 2023 judgement and ordered that the clothing designer’s trade mark be cancelled.

2025     In an unusual turn of events, Taylor was granted leave to appeal by the High Court of Australia. 

2026     Taylor wins her appeal by a 3:2 majority.  The judges ruled that Taylor’s trade mark for her ‘Katie Perry’ label did not breach Australian trade mark laws and that it was unlikely to mislead consumers or damage the American singer’s reputation.

In fact, according to the ABC, one of the judges described the actions of the singer and her representatives as those of  ‘a persistent or assiduous infringer of the appellant’s validly registered ‘Katie Perry’ mark’ – and the singer’s team was directed to pay costs to Ms Taylor.

Titan versus tiddler – why accurate and comprehensive trade mark registration is critical

This long-running dispute captured the attention of the legal fraternity as well as the public – not least because of its David vs Goliath theme of a global behemoth flexing its muscles against a small local enterprise. 

The ruling demonstrates that in the highly competitive world of commerce, trade marks can level the playing field. 

The ‘winner’ isn’t determined by the scale and scope of a brand or on reputation, but rather on regulatory compliance in terms of trade mark law and consistent and correct use of a trade mark.

What did this ruling cover?

This ruling by the High Court of Australia tested a number of key elements of trade mark registration including:

• the timing of an application to register a trade mark
• payment of fees
• the accuracy of a submission
• the scope of goods and services specified

The Court’s decision clarified how Australian trade mark law interprets issues as reputation, consumer confusion and trade mark cancellation and underscores the need for business owners to establish legal protections for trade marks at the outset when creating a brand.

A final word

As I surmised in my earlier blog about this case, the outcome will have a significant impact on the application of key trade mark principles going forward and I hope will provide some comfort and confidence for smaller start up businesses that registering their trade marks early will give them a solid position should a larger entity come along later with such a similar name. 

It is of particular interest to businesses – particularly smaller enterprises – which may have felt that trade mark registration was an unnecessary expense or an unnecessary hassle.  It is neither of these.  Generally, legally enforceable protections for your valuable intellectual property can only be achieved through trade mark registration.

If you’ve got a question about anything to do with trade marks and your brand, you are welcome to get in touch with our professional, friendly team for an obligation-free chat.  Call 03 8288 1432 or contact us via our website to find out more about our affordable trade marks services.