Katy Perry has been embroiled in a surprising amount of court cases, and this week she came out on top once again. Sydney designer Katie Jane Taylor, who sells clothes under her birth name Katie Perry, first sued the singer in October 2019 because the performer was selling her own merchandise. Originally, federal court ruled that Katy’s firm, Kitty Purry, had engaged in trademark infringement during the 2014 Australian tour.
However, last week the pop star successfully appealed the federal court’s findings, and they ordered Taylor’s trademark be deregistered. They wrote, ‘Whilst some die-hard fans of Katy Perry may recognise the incorrect spelling, the ordinary consumer with an imperfect recollection … would be likely to be confused as to the source of the item and wonder whether it was associated with [the singer].’
The judges noted that the ‘I Kissed a Girl’ singer had used her name as a trademark in during the 2014 Prism tour and had been doing so for five years before Taylor launched her own business. Back in 2009, Perry had sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the Sydney-based designer, before suggesting they come to a ‘coexistence agreement.’ The court noted that the designer reject the offer, ‘Which, as circumstances turned out, would have been an excellent outcome for both parties.’
After the loss, Taylor was heartbroken, and said, ‘This case proves a trademark isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. My fashion label has been a dream of mine since I was eleven years old and now that dream that I have worked so hard for, since 2006, has been taken away.’ You might say that’s the end of her teenage dream.
This isn’t the first time Katy Perry has found herself in court. Believe it or not, the singer has been sued or sued several times...
The nunnery
Although it sounds like the opening to a joke, Perry was in fact locked in a property battle back in 2018 with two nuns. In 2015, the Dark Horse singer agreed to buy a former convent in Los Angeles for $14.5m (£10.4m), but the deal turned sour when two nuns, who formerly resided in the convent, objected. Sister Catherine Rose and Sister Rita Callanan were uncomfortable with Perry buying their former home due to her raunchy lyrics, and if you’re heard Ur So Gay then you might understand where they’re coming from.
Even when the star reportedly visited the nuns to show them her tattoo of Jesus and sing a hymn for them, they still refused. They then tried to sell the convent to a restauranteur called Dana Hollister instead, but Perry’s lawyers argued that they had no right as they didn’t have the permission of their Archdiocese. Sister Catherine Rose passed away before the issue was resolved, in fact, she collapsed in court just hours after giving an interview pleading, ‘Katy Perry, please stop.’ Not great timing for the star. The sale fizzled out shortly afterwards, but Katy Perry did not end up getting the keys to the convent.
Dark Horse
Marcus Gray (‘Flame’), Emanuel Lambert (‘Da' T.R.U.T.H.’) and Chike Ojukwu filed a lawsuit against Perry in 2014, alleging that Perry's song ‘Dark Horse’ copied an eight-note riff from their song ‘Joyful Noise.’ ‘Joyful Noise’ got a lot of airtime on Christian radio stations and reached number 9 on the Billboard Gospel Digital Song Sales chart in 2011. Perry released Dark Horse in September 2013 and it quickly reached Number 1 on the Billboard 100 chart, where it remained for weeks.
Although at first Katy Perry and her various songwriters and producers were ordered to pay $2.78 million to the plaintiffs, this was eventually appealed and overturned,
Montecito mansion
Katy Perry and her fiancé, Orlando Bloom, went to trial over the sale of their Santa Barbara home after the former owner, Carl Wescott, sold the property to the couple in July 2020. Westcott, an elderly veteran and businessman, claimed that at the time of the sale he was not in the right state of mind to sell the property, although Perry's attorney argued that Westcott breached the contract because he simply changed his mind. In November 2023, a judge ruled that he could not prove without a doubt that he wasn’t of sound mind and ruled in favour of the stars.
Environmental damage
The Balearic Islands' Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment launched an investigation into potential environmental damage after filming wrapped on Perry's ‘Lifetimes’ music video. The production company was accused of not requesting authorization for filming and committing alleged violations in the protected sand dunes of S'Espalmador in Ibiza. However, this case is still up in the air and Perry has yet to publicly address it.