Beyoncé is taking a Texas company to court for selling shirts, mugs and other products emblazoned with “Feyonce,” which she claims is too close to her own name.
Beyoncé’s lawyers filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court, claiming that Feyonce Inc’s merchandise “confuses consumers and causes her irreparable harm, and that the defendants have ignored her requests to stop.”
The lawsuit reportedly calls out a $14.95 mug with “He put a ring on it” printed on it as an obvious allusion to “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).”
Defendants adopted the Feyonce mark to call to mind Beyoncé and her famous song,” the lawsuit reads. “Defendants’ conduct described herein is intentional, fraudulent, malicious, willful and wanton.”
Artists trademarking their own lyrics and variations on their name for merchandising purposes is no longer a rare practice, with Taylor Swift notably filing multiple trademark applications for phrases including “this sick beat,” “blank space” and “1989.”
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