Beyonce's disgraced former business manager is to give evidence in her legal battle to trademark her eldest daughter Blue Ivy Carter's name.
?? In January (17), Jonathan Schwartz, a former vice president of Beyonce's company BGK Trademark Holdings, filed a trademark application on behalf of the singer to launch several product lines using her five-year-old daughter's name.
Veronica Morales, the owner of her own wedding planning company Blue Ivy, has challenged Beyonce's application, alleging the star had no intention of selling anything under her daughter's name and merely wanted to block others from doing so.
Despite opposition from Beyonce's legal team, on Monday, U.S. Judge Robert H. Coggins ruled that Schwartz, who begins a six year prison term next month after admitting to stealing millions of dollars from the singer Alanis Morissette, must testify in the case.
Beyonce, 35, who gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy, earlier this month, originally attempted to trademark her eldest daughter's name shortly after her birth in 2012, but abandoned the application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year, after failing to show she had used the name commercially.
In court documents, the wedding planner's legal team cite a 2013 interview with Beyonce's husband JAY-Z in Vanity Fair magazine as evidence the couple never intended to sell things under their daughter's name.
"People wanted to make products based on our child's name and you don't want anybody trying to benefit off your baby's name," the rapper said in the interview. "It wasn't for us to do anything; as you see, we haven't done anything."
Morales' lawyers demanded Schwartz be compelled to give testimony as to whether Beyonce and JAY-Z, real name Shawn Carter, had changed their minds since 2013, or were acting fraudulently when stating they were planning to brand products.
Schwartz, who pleaded guilty to stealing $4.8 million (£3.9 million) from Morissette and $2 million (£1.6 million) from other clients, begins his sentence on 11 July (17).
Beyonce has yet to publicly reveal the names of her two new arrivals, but has reportedly named them Shawn Jr. and Bea.
