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Pop star Mariah Carey is currently fighting a trademark battle with an Irish drinks company concerning the name of her new liquor company.
Carey’s new company, Black Irish, unveiled a Black Irish Cream Liqueur in a press release sent out in mid-August of 2021. A little over a year prior, Irish company Darker Still Spirits Co. launched its own Black Irish Whiskey in the U.K. and all E.U. countries.
Because of this dispute between Dark Spirits and Carey’s company, she is unable to sell her Black Irish Cream Liqueur outside of the United States.
Co-founder and Director David Phelan has spoken out about his company’s fight with Carey’s legal teams.
“The Darker Still Spirits Company can confirm that despite unfounded objections from Mariah’s team we still have the legal ownership of the Black Irish trademark in the EU & UK,” Phelan said, adding that his company had registered the Black Irish brand name with an intellectual property office (IPO) in 2015.
He also noted that his brand launched in Ireland in June 2020, approximately two months before Carey had launched her own liqueur.
According to Phelan, Darker Still’s Black Irish Whiskey was named after — and created using — two of the most famous exports of Ireland: black stout and Irish whiskey.
“Myself and my partners in Darker Still are collective veterans of the Irish drinks industry, and it is unprecedented that we are defending our position against a US company, within an Irish industry that we have helped support for over 30 years. We also call on Mariah Carey’s appointed agent to stop claiming trademark rights to other products owned by our directors, presumed as a tactic to undermine our wider businesses.” Phelan said.
Despite what Phelan refers to as “distractions” from Mariah Carey’s legal team, his company is continuing to expand its product availability across Europe.
He also revealed that Darker Still Spirits Co. is planning to question the pop star’s team regarding the origins of their product.
“Questions are now being prepared to Mariah’s brand team to ascertain how a ‘Geographic Indicator’ Irish Cream Liqueur, could have been produced on the island of Ireland without the relevant EU Trademark permissions,” Phelan said.
The question is, who will win the legal battle: a millionaire pop star or a true Irish whiskey brand?
