There is a world — it happens to be this one — in which celebrities battle it out for the right to use the name Kylie. Kylie Minogue, 54, recalled her 2015 trademark battle with the Gen Z beauty billionaire Kylie Jenner, 24, over ownership of the name Kylie (yes, really) when she appeared on US talk show Watch What Happens Live earlier this week.
Why did Kylie Minogue take Kylie Jenner to court?
Kylie Jenner filed papers with the US Patent and Trademark Office in April 2015 to register her name for ‘advertising and endorsement services'. In response, Minogue’s team filed an opposition in February 2016, claiming the trademark could damage the singer’s brand and cause confusion. It was ‘just business’, Minogue told Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen. ‘I’ve spent a lifetime protecting my brand and building my brand so it was just something that had to be done.’
In the great Kylie vs Kylie battle, who won?
Minogue. The singer’s legal team noted that Minogue is an ‘internationally renowned performing artist, humanitarian and breast cancer activist’ who already owns the trademarks for ‘Kylie Minogue Darling’, ‘Lucky – the Kylie Minogue musical’ and ‘Kylie Minogue’, and has owned Kylie.com since 1996, referring to Jenner as a ‘secondary reality television personality’ (ouch). The judge found in her favour in 2017. Injury to insult, you might say. Just two years later, the ‘Locomotion’ singer launched her own beauty line with five products to start (with names like ‘Lip to Cheek’ and ‘Wow’, all references to her biggest hits) — a lip oil, lip gloss, eye to cheek glitter, lip to cheek colour and three shades of eyeshadow.
So was Kylie Jr. a sore loser?
Apparently not. And the singer says that she holds nothing against the plucky influence. Although she’s never met the Kardashian clan (save for sister Kendall, at the odd fashion event), she’d like to. In 2019, she even thanked her rival Kylie for helping her break America (again). ‘Actually, when I was young there was no one called Kylie, so to explain I would have to spell it out, especially in America,’ Minogue told Paper magazine. ‘Thanks to Kylie Jenner, they do know the name Kylie. So, winning.’
What happened next?
Both came out smelling of roses — or, in Kylie Minogue's case, rosé. Kylie Jenner made a packet from her burgeoning beauty empire regardless. By the age of 23, Jenner has become the world’s youngest billionaire on the back of her brand, Kylie Cosmetics. Minogue, meanwhile, finally broke America. She turned her business acumen to Kylie Minogue Wines – a range including Côte de Provence rosé, Australian Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and Italian prosecco. And the people loved it. Her prosecco alone made £7.7m in a year. Her biggest client? Thirsty Americans. Cheers