Blue Ivy Denied: Beyoncé and Jay-Z Can’t Trademark Daughter’s Name, Court Rules

Last week, a Boston company won a legal battle against Beyoncé and Jay-Z over the name "Blue Ivy"

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Recording artists Jay-Z and Beyonce watch the Men's Final on Day Fifteen of the 2011 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 12, 2011.

Blue Ivy Carter may be the youngest person ever to grace the Billboard music charts, but she’ll have to wait a bit longer to establish her brand. Proud parents Jay-Z and Beyoncé lost their battle to trademark their 9-month-old daughter’s seemingly unique name, Fox News Boston reports.

Last week, a Boston event planning company called Blue Ivy Events won a legal battle against singer Beyoncé Knowles and rapper Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. Queen B reportedly filed an application in January to trademark the name of her firstborn, in part to protect the moniker for future use in a line of baby products. But it turns out their bundle of joy was not the only one to have been dubbed Blue Ivy in recent years: the name was first in use by a Boston-based wedding planner company, Blue Ivy Events, which became embroiled in the battle to save its name after the copyright filing.

On Tuesday, though, the owner of Blue Ivy Events — which has been operating under the name since 2009 — managed to come out on top. A judge ruled to let the company keep its name, and the Carters now have no legal rights to reserve it, according to Fox News Boston.

The Boston event planners evidently don’t mind that the famous family chose the name for their baby girl, and in fact seem rather proud of it. The company’s website prominently displays a photo of Jay-Z and Beyoncé with the caption, “Congrats to our soul mate couple with baby Blue Ivy!!!”

The entrepreneurial Carters purportedly made the trademark request just weeks after their daughter’s birth because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had already received requests from others who wanted to claim the name for their own. One New Jersey designer unsuccessfully attempted to trademark “Blue Ivy Carter NYC” for use in a children’s clothing line, the New York Daily News reported in February.

(MORE: Beyoncé and Jay-Z Debut Blue Ivy Carter Online)

Although the power couple has never explained why they selected the name, several theories abound. “Blue” is a hue that often appears in Jay-Z’s work, seen in his albums named “The Blueprint,” “The Blueprint 2” and “The Blueprint 3.” And leaving little shrouded in mystery, in Young Jeezy’s 2005 song “Go Crazy (Remix),” Jay-Z let loose with a guest verse that included the line, “My favorite hue is Jay-Z blue.”

As for part deux of Blue Ivy’s name, Good Morning America has said that it is likely a play on the Roman numeral IV, as the duo has a well-documented affinity for the number four. Beyoncé and Jay-Z were married on April 4, 2008, better known as the fourth day of the fourth month. The date significance stretches deeper still: both of their birthdays fall on the fourth day of their respective birth-months (September for her, December for him). Beyoncé’s fourth studio album was appropriately titled “4,” and she and her husband both sport matching “IV” tattoos on their ring fingers.

Despite the personal significance of their daughter’s name and the pair’s superstar status — what other couple hangs with the Commander-in-Chief, after all? — the Carters still can’t guarantee that their daughter will be the only one autographing “Blue Ivy” in the coming years. Perhaps Jay should have stuck with his original plan to call her Brooklyn Carter.

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