This battle has been going on for years.
The Blue Ivy wedding planning business, run by a woman named Veronica Morales, has reportedly been in operation since 2009. Three years later, Jay-Z and Beyoncé welcomed their first born, Blue Ivy Carter, into the world, and in an effort to protect her name from being used for prit, Bey filed to procure the trademark rights to her moniker.
It didn’t take long for Morales to bite back with claims that her business was around long before Blue Ivy was birthed, so she wants to stop the singer from obtaining any rights. In her court documents, she mentions an interview that Jay did with Vanity Fair where he spoke on the trademark petition.
“People wanted to make products based on our child’s name, and you don’t want anybody trying to benefit f your baby’s name,” Jay told the publication back in 2013. “It wasn’t for us to do anything; as you see, we haven’t done anything. First all, it’s a child, and it bothers me when there’s no boundaries]. I come from the streets, and even in the most atrocious shit we were doing, we had lines: no kids, no mothers—there was respect there. But now] there’s no boundaries. For somebody to say, This person had a kid—I’m gonna make a fuckin’ stroller with that kid’s name. It’s, like, where’s the humanity?”
The Blast reports that Morales has filed a lawsuit against Beyoncé, accusing the singer fraud. According to Morales, when Bey filed for the Blue Ivy Carter trademark, she wrote that the name would be used for business. However, Morales notes that in Jay’s interview, he suggested they wanted it only to protect their daughter’s name. Morales believes that this indicates fraud as she also accuses Beyoncé ignoring her court documents.
“When considered together, the admission to Vanity Fair and the refusal to respond to any discovery responses is sufficient evidence to conclude that the Applicant’s intent all along is exactly what Jay Z said: to use trademark applications to prevent others from using the name their daughter. This is fraud on the USPTO,” Morales states.
Earlier this year, Morales reportedly requested that text messages between Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Tina Knowles be turned over for examination. Morales wanted to know if the family members communicated about having any prior knowledge regarding the name Blue Ivy being used in any other businesses. However, correspondences weren’t shared as Beyoncé’s team reportedly believed confidential information could possibly be leaked to the public. Morales and Beyoncé’s legal teams are set to face f in court.