Music superstars Beyonce and Jay-Z have lost the right to trademark their daughter Blue Ivy’s name.
The couple were hoping to use her name for a new range of baby products and clothes that would add to their already substantial fortune and business portfolio.
This planned project is not their first venture in the fashion world; Jay-Z was a founder of the Rocawear brand while Beyonce owns the House of Dereon clothing line with her mother. Jay-Z also owns the 40/40 chain of sports bars and has a stake in the Brooklyn Nets NBA team.
They were unable to trademark the name as Veronica Alexandra, an event and wedding planner from Boston, Massachusetts, called her business Blue Ivy in 2009.
Veronica said: “My company had been called Blue Ivy since 2009. I came up with the name, and if they had won my business could have been restricted.
“It was important for me to protect the name of my company. We are very successful as wedding planners and wanted to stay that way.
“Of course Blue Ivy is a lovely name, but I had to make sure that I would be able to continue using it for my business.”
“Blue is a very powerful colour used by any companies and Ivy conjures up a very romantic image. I was very happy with the name, and of course business spiked after Beyoncé called her baby Blue Ivy. We do between 40 and 60 weddings a year.”
However, Veronica has said that she would be more than happy to relinquish her rights to the name if the superstars want to buy her out.
“If Beyoncé and Jay-Z want to buy me out I’d welcome that,” she said.
It seems like Veronica Alexandra isn’t especially attached to her company’s name and I’m sure that all of this publicity is doing her a world of good!
The colour blue is said to be Jay-Z’s favourite having released three albums called Blueprint.