Darlene Love, Elizabeth Chan Fire Back At Mariah Carey’s Attempt To Trademark ‘Queen Of Christmas’ Title

Mariah Carey is not the “Queen of Christmas”, according to Darlene Love and Elizabeth Chan.

Love and Chan have both been associated with the title, with Love singing on Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You back in 1963 and performing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on David Letterman’s show every year from 1986 through 2014.

Chan, on the other hand, was also known as the “Queen of Christmas” in the media before using the name for her 2021 album title.

Despite this, Carey has now taken it upon herself to attempt to register the title as a trademark so she’ll be the only person who can use it.

According to Variety, Chan’s attorney then filed a formal declaration of opposition to Carey’s trademark on Friday, with Love also speaking out about the whole thing on Facebook.

She wrote, “Is it true that Mariah Carey trademarked ‘Queen of Christmas’? What does that mean, that I can’t use that title? David Letterman officially declared me the ‘Queen of Christmas’ 29 years ago, a year before she released ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’, and at 81 years of age I’m NOT changing anything. I’ve been in the business for 52 years, have earned it and can still hit those notes! If Mariah has a problem call David or my lawyer!!”

Chan and her lawyer, Louis Tompros, of Boston-based firm WilmerHale, spoke to Variety over the weekend, with the singer insisting: “Christmas has come way before any of us on earth, and hopefully will be around way after any of us on earth.

“And I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolize it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity. That’s just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It’s meant to be shared; it’s not meant to be owned.

“And it’s not just about the music business,” Chan went on. “She’s trying to trademark this in every imaginable way — clothing, liquor products, masks, dog collars — it’s all over the map. If you knit a ‘queen of Christmas’ sweater, you should be able to sell it on Etsy to somebody else so they can buy it for their grandma. It’s crazy — it would have that breadth of registration.”

Despite Carey’s attempt to trademark the name, she told the “Zoe Ball Breakfast Show” in December 2021 of being associated with the moniker: “That was other people, and I just want to humbly say that I don’t consider myself that,” Yahoo! reported.

“I’m someone that loves Christmas, that happened to be blessed to write ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. And a lot of other Christmas songs. And let’s face it, you know, everybody’s faith is what it is. But to me, Mary is the Queen of Christmas.”