Blue Ivy Carter: Children’s Clothing Line Named after Beyonce’s Baby, Designer Speaks

A few weeks ago, New York-based clothing designer Joseph Mbeh was attempting to trademark the name of Beyonce and Jay-Z's daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, with plans to create a children's clothing line titled Blue Ivy Carter NYC.

Mbeh filed for the trademark application on Jan. 11, just four days after Blue Ivy Carter was born. In the filing, the designer contended he has been using the Blue Ivy Carter NYC name since at least as early as 01/09/2012, just two days after the baby was born.

Once the media caught wind of this exploitation of Blue Ivy Carter, critics went wild. Talk about being a bottom feeder, wrote Hip-Hope Wired. DUDE NO ONE IS GOING TO BUY THESE CLOTHES NOW THAT IT HAS BEEN PUBLICIZED THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO EXPLOIT THIS BABY THAT'S NOT EVEN 2 WKS OLD YET. YUCK!!!! wrote a commentator. From a business standpoint, it was a gutsy move. Personally dude deserves a punch in the jaw! quipped another.

Designer Jason Mbeh finally responded on Feb. 1, saying that he will release the rights to the trademark. In the statement, Mbeh, who heads the firm Intricate Concepts, explained his business plan and said that the media misconstrued his intentions.

What happened was that the media found out about the trademark and decided to spin their own story, he said. Most just copied the information from one source and ran with it without fact-checking or even contacting our office to get clarification.

In 3 days, the media ran with a story that misrepresented me and made it seem as if I was an unexperienced intern and suggested that our intent was to exploit Blue Ivy Carter, Mbeh continued. 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, he added.

Mbeh said that, even though he is releasing the rights to the trademark, he still has hopes to meet with Beyonce, Jay-Z and baby Blue Ivy Carter.

Hopefully this will help to share a little about our company, represent our true objectives, and result in a creative partnership with The Carters, he concluded.

Joseph Mbeh was formerly an intern at Russell Simmons' Phat Farm and is co-owner and designer of FourFront clothing. His designs have been worn by the likes of T-Pain, Ray J and others.