Photo: WENN
Katy Perry and Taylor Swift have taken legal action against fans selling homemade items based on them online.
This week has seen lawyers for the popstars send cease and desist letters to various sellers on Etsy and Shapeways, ordering them to stop selling the items, which include homemade dolls, jewellery and various homewares.
Perry's lawyers have also ordered Shapeways to stop selling dolls of 'Left Shark', a back-up dancer from the 'Dark Horse' singer's Superbowl half time show who saw adoration on the internet immediately after the performance.
Speaking to Buzzfeed, a seller on Etsy expressed her feelings towards the prospect of a lawsuit: "We originally made the item for fun, we love Taylor and we had friends that love Taylor. We never intended for it to be a profit making item. The cost of the item covered shipping costs, and production costs with very little left over. When we got the e-mail that the trademark infringement occurred, we were pretty shocked because while our item was popular we didn’t feel as if it had become popular enough to cause harm to Taylor Swift’s empire. We were shocked. And we were scared. We didn’t even make enough money for a lawyer and this had seemed like such a harmless and fun idea."
This news follows the recent announcement that Taylor Swift had trademarked various phrases from her new album 1989, including 'This. Sick. Beat.', 'Party like it's 1989' and 'Nice to meet you, where you been?'.
Representatives for Swift or Perry are yet to comment on the cease and desist letters.
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