Mariah Carey has a problem  and she's called Mary Carey.

The enormously successful vocalist is worried that a pornstar with a similar name to hers wants to register her name as a trademark.

She believes that the two could become confused, to her detriment, and has instructed her lawyers to threaten legal action if Mary Carey fails to withdraw her trademark application.

Sadly for Mariah, it seems that Mary is unlikely to give up her claim to the name so easily.

"I'm ready to battle Mariah over this because I've been Mary Carey for a long time. It's kind of funny because I'm a porn star and I've been being myself for a long time," Mary told the Reuters news agency.

"I think she's being silly," she added.

While Mariah's pop CV includes 17 US number one hits and 11 studio albums, Mary's back catalogue is almost exclusively x-rated.

Titles like Thumpin' Melons, Big Blowout and Grand Opening make plain their rather adult content  an association with which Mariah is extremely keen to avoid.


09/12/2006 19:25:56