Katy Perry Loses Bitter 16-Year Legal Battle Against Katie Perry

Australian designerKatie Perryhas won atrademark caseagainst US pop starKaty Perryafter a16-year-long legal battle.

The High Court of Australia on Wednesday, March 11, found that the former had not hurt the singer's reputation or misled consumers with her eponymous clothing brand, which she started in 2007.

Netizens have shared their reactions following the verdict, with the majority criticizing theHot N Coldsinger's decision to go against Katie for running a business under her birth name, while pointing out that "Katy Perry" is only her stage name.

"Her real name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson. Someone who is a pretend Katy Perry tried to sue a real Katie Perry. Make that make sense," one asked.

The legal battle between Katie Perry and Katy Perry ends in the designer's favor

Image credits:Getty/Mike Marsland

Katie Perry, who now goes by her married name Katie Taylor, has been selling clothes at local markets, on her website, and through several social media accounts under the Katie Perry brand since 2008.

The legal battle began in 2009, when lawyers forKaty Perrysent cease-and-desist letters to her.

"I had never heard of the singer when I started my label," Taylor said in court while detailing how she first heard of Katy in mid-2008 when the songI Kissed a Girlcame on the radio.

"I was simply building a fashion business under the name I was born with," she asserted.

Image credits:katieperry.designer

In 2019, Taylor sued the singer, arguing that her sale of sweatpants, hoodies, jackets, and other items during a 2014 tour infringed her trademark, and she won.

However, in 2024, the ruling was overturned on appeal, with judges saying Katy had been using her name as a trademark five years before Taylor started her business.

Image credits:katieperry.designer

As for today's verdict, the High Court, in a 3:2 decision, found that given "the heightened strength of the reputation of Katy Perry, no ordinary person in Australia, after a moment's reflection, would think Katie Perry's products were linked to the singer."

The court also ruled that Katy Perry's eponymous label and her international merchandise distributor, Bravado, had been "assiduous infringers" of Taylor's trademark, as they sold clothing inAustraliadespite their registration excluding clothing items.

Both parties have released statements following the verdict

Image credits:Getty/Rodin Eckenroth

A spokesperson for the singer said in a statement: "Katy Perry has never sought to close down Ms. Taylor's business or stop her from selling clothes under the Katie Perry label."

"Today, by a 3:2 decision, the High Court determined that Ms. Taylor's trademark can remain on the register," the statement added, before noting that the court had "sent the case back to the Full Federal Court to determine issues raised by Katy Perry, including Ms. Taylor's 10-year delay in bringing her case."

Image credits:A Current Affair

In a statement posted on the Katie Perry website, the designer said the decision showed that "even small Australian businesses" could stand up for their rights.

"This case has never just been about a name," she said. "It has been about protectingsmall businessesin Australia, standing up for what's right, and showing that we all matter."

Image credits:ApricotPopPop

Image credits:katieperry.designer

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Speaking toA Current Affair, a prominent Australian news program, Taylor said part of the reason she took Perry to court was to set a good example for her children.

"I know I've set a really good role model for them — of resilience, of standing up tobullies, and of backing yourself as well," she said.

Netizens have backed Katie since the court's decision and have wished the best for her business

Image credits:katieperry.designer

"I'm really happy for the real Katie Perry! She didn't steal anything from the singer. That's her real name," one user wrote.

Another added, "May the real Katie Perry have a super successful fashion empire."

A third advised the designer to "come out with a shirt saying, 'There can only be one Katie Perry.'"

"The real Katie Perry said 'Yeah, nah,' because that's the Aussie way," another observed.

Image credits:katyperry

A Katy Perry critic, meanwhile, wrote, "A case coming from a person with more money, influence, and power should account for bullying."

"Celebs trying to push their weight around ordinary folks is really pathetic," another echoed.

"Their names were spelled differently. Katie and Katy. Just goes to show the greed of the rich people to try and take down the little guys," remarked a third.

A fourth, referencing the singer'sBlue Origin space trip, commented, "Fake astronaut suing over a name is crazy."

"The fact that she dragged this out for 16 years is quite evident of how bitter and vindictive she is," another said

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byAlex Forten

in

March 11, 2026

Katy Perry Loses Bitter 16-Year Legal Battle Against Katie Perry

Australian designerKatie Perryhas won atrademark caseagainst US pop starKaty Perryafter a16-year-long legal battle. ...

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Iran's regime shows it can still rattle the global economy amid U.S. bombardment

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials say relentless American and Israeli aerial attacks have crippled Iran's air defenses, navy and missile arsenal. But the regime in Tehran has so far held on to power, and it effectively shut down a crucial choke point for the world's oil supplies.

As the war President Donald Trumpdescribed as a "little excursion"stretched into a 12th day, Iran has shown it can trigger a global economic crisis. The U.S. and Israel have not managed to secure the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, with commercial ships coming under fire from drones.

The White House anticipated that waves of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that killedAyatollah Ali Khameneiand other top leadership would swiftly upend Tehran's ruling apparatus.

But Khamenei, the late supreme leader, was succeeded byhis 56-year-old son, who is widely viewedas an equally hard-line ideologue with deep ties to the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. There are no indications of major fissures or breakaway opposition factions, according to current and former U.S. officials, lawmakers and experts.

"The regime is still intact, and continuity is the order of the day," Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think tank, told NBC News. "Politically, I don't see any signs of defection or other factions choosing this moment in time to come up with a counter-worldview."

The Iranian regime's resilience poses a challenge for the Trump administration as it grapples with the mounting price of war, including U.S. military casualties and economic aftershocks, and as it struggles to articulate an endgame to the conflict.

The Strait of Hormuz, which 20% of the world's oil supply travels through, has been effectively shut to tanker traffic since the war started. Shipping insurance rates have skyrocketed.

Several commercial ships near the waterway have requested assistance or escorts from the U.S. military in recent days, but the threat posed by Iranian drones and other weapons remains too high to allow American naval escorts, a U.S. official and a former official familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

Oil prices swung this week amid conflicting informationabout security along the strait, including a social media post from Energy Secretary Chris Wright that was later deleted. Wright wrote on X that the U.S. Navy had "successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets." But the White House denied the claim, and a spokesperson for the Energy Department blamed "staff" for having "incorrectly captioned" a video of Wright.

Rising retail gas prices in the U.S. present a political danger for the White House, and Trump is concerned the markets will turn against him, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Advisers told Trump over the weekend that the situation could deteriorate significantly when the oil markets opened Sunday night, the people said.

Dozens of nations agreed to release 400 million barrels of oilfrom their reserves in a bid to ease prices, which fell briefly but climbed again.

Trump is weighing other measures that could help offset spiking prices, including possibly restricting U.S. exports and lifting some requirements of the Jones Act, which requires domestic fuel to be transported on U.S.-flagged ships, according two administration officials.

The White House believes it has until the end of March before rising gas prices become an "unsustainable" political five-alarm fire, one of the officials said.

If the current pace of airstrikes continues for two to three more weeks, Iran's conventional military power — including its once-vast ballistic missile program — would most likely be set back several years, former U.S. officials and analysts say. That might provide a possible opportunity for Trump to declare the goals of the war have been achieved and to order an end to the campaign.

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"The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed by the U.S. military. Their navy is depleted, their ballistic missile arsenal is being wiped out, and their internal communications have been totally disrupted," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.

Yet the growing fallout from Iran's retaliation around the Persian Gulf has raised questions about the administration's war planning and whether Trump and his deputies considered the regime's resilience and potential for retaliation on neighboring Arab states or the vulnerability of the narrow Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. military strategists have long worried about the potential threat of Iran's closing down the waterway by planting naval mines. On Tuesday, the Defense Department said U.S. forces struck 16 Iranian minelaying ships nearby.

Drones, a more elusive target, continue to pose a persistent threat for commercial ships trying to transit the strait, and Iran is likely to have a vast fleet of drones at its disposal, former officials and experts said.

"Iran has tens of thousands of drones, and they can produce them at a low cost," said Vatanka of the Middle East Institute. "The drones are obviously not going to be much of a threat to U.S. forces, but the Gulf states, and those states' massive amounts of infrastructure, are at risk here."

"Unknown" projectiles hit a Thai commercial ship in the strait Wednesday, forcing the crew to abandon it in a lifeboat, according to Thailand's Transport Ministry.

Compared with previous wars, the Pentagon has shared limited details and information about the scale and the effects of the air campaign. But last week, after several days of having pounded Iranian targets, U.S. Central Command said it had seen a major decrease in retaliatory attacks from Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, suggesting Tehran's ability to launch retaliatory attacks had been diminished.

But the Pentagon has not provided new statistics, and the extent of damage inflicted on Iran's missile or drone firepower could shape how long the war continues and how much of a threat Tehran will be after the campaign ends, former officials and analysts say.

Seven U.S. service members have died since the war started, and roughly 140 others have been wounded, according to the Pentagon. Hundreds of people have been killed across the Middle East,including more than 1,200 in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

A former senior defense official said Trump may need to keep up the air campaign for several more weeks to secure concessions from the regime on abandoning its nuclear program, halting its arming of proxy forces or backing off missile attacks.

"The regime will be responsive to direct pressure applied to it," the former official said.

Trump has been inconsistent about how long the war will wear on. He has said it could last four to five weeks or "far longer," and he also called the campaign "very far ahead of schedule."

Of late, he also has claimed there will be no endexcept for "unconditional surrender"and a slate of Iranian leaders acceptable to him. Leavitt suggested there was more fluidity to the idea of "unconditional surrender," saying it would be up to Trump to decide what that looked like.

"President Trump will determine when Iran is in a place of unconditional surrender, when they no longer pose a credible and direct threat to the United States of America and our allies," she said.

byAlex Forten

in

March 11, 2026

Iran's regime shows it can still rattle the global economy amid U.S. bombardment

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials say relentless American and Israeli aerial attacks have crippled Iran's air defenses, nav...

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Epstein's longtime accountant testifies on his wealth and business ties

WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers were digging intoJeffrey Epstein'ssprawling financial portfolio on Wednesday as a committee deposed his former accountant and tried to understand his connections to some of the world's wealthiest men.

Congress Epstein

Richard Kahn, who worked closely with Epstein for years and now serves as an executor of his estate, appeared for the closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill. He told lawmakers that he had not personally seen evidence of Epstein's sexual abuse, but provided a fuller picture of how Epstein acquired his wealth. The wealthy financier made hundreds of millions of dollars over two decades, during which hestruck up friendshipswith some of the world's most powerful men.

Kahn "was under the impression that Epstein made his money as a tax advisor and a financial planner," said Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee. Lawmakers argued that a fuller picture of Epstein's finances could help the public understand how, for years, he was able to get away with trafficking and sexually abusing underage girls.

"Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring would not have been possible without Richard Kahn, who managed Epstein's money for years, authorized payments, including payments to victims and survivors," said Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., who added that Kahn told them he was unable to recall details of some of the transactions and communications that he was asked about.

Kahn has said that he was unaware of Epstein's sexual abuse and had not seen any of his victims.

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Comer, R-Ky., also said that lawmakers confirmed during the deposition that Epstein received significant amounts of money from former retail shopping chain executive Les Wexner, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, tech entrepreneur Steven Sinofsky, investor Leon Black and the Rothschilds, a wealthy banking family.

None of those people have been accused of wrongdoing in their relationships with Epstein, but Democrats on the committee argued that anyone with ties to the wealthy financier should be scrutinized. Wexner wasdeposed by the committeelast month, and Comer has also called on Black, among several others, to appear for transcribed interviews.

Kahn also told lawmakers that Epstein had financial ties to Ehud Barak, who was the prime minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001, according to Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam. Barak has not been accused of wrongdoing and has said he regrets his friendship with Epstein.

Comer also said Wednesday that the committee has reviewed over 40,000 documents that it subpoenaed from JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. Epstein was connected to at least 64 business entities, according to Comer.

Republican President Donald Trumphas strongly deniedany wrongdoing in his own ties to Epstein, and Comer said that Kahn had never seen any financial transactions between Epstein and Trump. Comer said that Kahn is the latest witness to testify that they had never seen Trump doing anything wrong with Epstein.

"The investigation's about getting the truth to the American people, trying to figure out how the government failed, answer questions we all have," Comer said.

byAlex Forten

in

March 11, 2026

Epstein's longtime accountant testifies on his wealth and business ties

WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers were digging intoJeffrey Epstein'ssprawling financial portfolio on Wednesday as a c...

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Photos show tornado damage after powerful storms hit Illinois and Indiana

Powerfulstorms swept across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana,spawning multiple tornadoes and causing widespread damage.

Extreme Weather Illinois

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

byAlex Forten

in

March 11, 2026

Photos show tornado damage after powerful storms hit Illinois and Indiana

Powerfulstorms swept across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana,spawning multiple tornadoes and causing widespread...

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Hall of Fame cap saga ends for Andre Dawson

The Baseball Hall of Fame announced Wednesday that it has allowed Andre Dawson to recast his plaque without a logo on his cap.

Dawson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010 with his plaque sporting a Montreal Expos logo. The blank cap option was not offered until four years later.

"The Hall of Fame Board of Directors voted unanimously to provide Andre Dawson with the option of having no logo on his Hall of Fame plaque, which will be recast to reflect his wishes," Baseball Hall of Fame chairman of the board Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement. "This decision gives Andre a choice that he would have taken if it had been available when he was elected in 2010, just four years prior to the formal implementation of that alternative."

Per the Baseball Hall of Fame, no other changes will be made to the plaque.

"I extend special thanks with much appreciation to the Hall of Fame Board of Directors for a blank cap, which allows me to represent each club fairly," Dawson said, per the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Dawson, 71, played his first 11 Major League Baseball seasons with the Expos before joining the Chicago Cubs as a free agent in 1987. He won the National League MVP in his first season with the Cubs and spent six seasons in Chicago before finishing his career with two-year stints with the Boston Red Sox and then-Florida Marlins.

"I always felt that I was a Cub in the Hall of Fame, I just had the 'M' on the cap," Dawson said Wednesday, per the Chicago Sun-Times. "That's what I always related to. That's where my heart was.

"... All along, I just felt that the process should have allowed me to have some sort of say so. And for years, I just disregarded trying to entertain it at all. It was what it was. And once the protocol started to change, where players were picking they didn't want to wear an emblem, I felt that I just needed to right the wrong. Because I wasn't given that opportunity, against what my wishes would have been."

An eight-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner, Dawson batted .279 with 438 homers and 1,591 RBIs in 2,627 career games with the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox and Marlins.

--Field Level Media

byAlex Forten

in

March 11, 2026

Hall of Fame cap saga ends for Andre Dawson

The Baseball Hall of Fame announced Wednesday that it has allowed Andre Dawson to recast his plaque without a logo on his...

Read More