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Jay-Z applies for ‘Hovino’ restaurant and wine bar trademark

US rapper and business mogul Jay-Z has registered for the trademark to ‘Hovino’ for use in the hospitality sector, suggesting that he may be about to enter the restaurant business.

Jay-Z could be preparing to launch a restaurant under the trademark Hovino

Jay-Z applied for the Hovino trademark in October 2017 for use in “restaurant and café services; carry-out restaurant services; restaurant services; self-service restaurants; cafes; café-restaurants; catering; serving food and drinks; take-out restaurant services; bar services, pubs; cocktail lounges; wine bars.”

The rapper made the application through his S. Carter Enterprises company, with it being one of eight applications for the mark, which could see the ‘Hovino’ brand also applied across the jewellery, cosmetic and fashion sectors.

The 48-year-old already owns the upmarket bar chain, The 40/40 Club in New York, and owns Champagne Armand de Brignac, having purchased the brand in 2014, so is well placed to expand his business further into the hospitality sector.

The outcome of his application is yet to be decided. However the music mogul and his wife Beyonce are currently locked in another battle to trademark their daughter Blue Ivy’s name for similar purposes.

Since their daughter Blue Ivy was born in 2012, the pair have been fighting to trademark her name, but have so far been denied the rights because an event company called Blue Ivy already owned the mark.

The couple have argued that they are entitled to the trademark to prevent others from profiting off their daughter’s name, despite the company already owning the trademark and operating as a business before Blue Ivy was born.

Amid the wrangle, the couple accused the company of using the case to bring about media attention and to “harass … Mrs. Carter and disclose her confidential information to the public”. While Blue Ivy has criticised the couple for their pursuit of the trademark, claiming that they have no immediate plans to sell anything under the mark, and wants the name “merely so that nobody else” does.

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