Clothing designer Joseph Mbeh found himself in a whirlwind of controversy after he purchased the trademark to the name “Blue Ivy Carter NYC,” without the consent of Jay-Z and Beyonce. Though, he insists his intentions were never malicious, Mbeh has decided to release the rights to the name. He still hopes to connect with the hip-hop power couple for a children’s clothing line.
Read his official statement below
First of all, congratulations to Jay-Z and Beyonce on the birth of their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. So much has been written about our recent trademark application for the mark ‘Blue Ivy Carter NYC’ that I’m here to share what our intention was in applying for a fashion trademark on the name Blue Ivy Carter NYC. But first let me properly introduce you to our firm, Intricate Concepts, which I co-founded in 2001. We are artists, entrepreneurs, and a one-stop creative clearinghouse who has been at the forefront of trending fashion designing lines for brands like DKNY, Sean John, Phat Farm and Timberland to name a few. In fact, much of the clothing that you’ve worn in the last decade reflects our clients’ brand as designed by our firm. We recently launched our own flagship brand, FOURFRONT1602 (FourFront1602.com).
Prior to the birth of The Carters’ daughter, my team and I were in the process of designing a children’s collection. The designs were there, but we hadn’t selected a brand yet to associate with. We wanted the line to exemplify beauty, innocence, power, and spirituality and decided to create, pitch, and ultimately present the idea to The Carters in hopes that a business relationship could be formed to create Blue Ivy Carter NYC for them.
Upon exploration, we were surprised to discover that the mark had not yet been registered and chose to register the name to protect the concept of a future fashion line on their behalf. To protect the idea, we registered the name and started creating samples, which would have been presented The Carters at our pitch meeting. Given our history and the mark we’ve made as fashion trendsetters, we wanted to create and present a complete idea to The Carters that would uphold the integrity of their collective brands.
For the record, we did not reach out to the media or send out any press releases because the ideas had not fully designed or solidified yet. What happened was that the media found out about the trademark and decided to spin their own story. Most just copied the information from one source and ran with it without fact-checking or even contacting our office to get clarification. We chose not to comment immediately because we still did not have a co-sign from The Carters on the idea. In 3 days, the media ran with a story that misrepresented me and made it seem as if I was an un-experienced intern and suggested that our intent was to exploit Blue Ivy Carter. Since the media misconstrued our intentions, we have chosen to respond by first revealing our intentions and secondly by releasing our rights to the trademark. We respect and admire The Carters and would not misrepresent our intentions towards them. Our objective is to foster a creative relationship with them, not destroy a potential one.
We‘ve made millions for our clients, and have established our firm as a design powerhouse. Hopefully this will help to share a little about our company, represent our true objectives, and result in a creative partnership with The Carters. Together we can redesign the world of children’s fashion! We invite you to explore our website www.FourFront1602.com
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