‘Hot Girls Read’ Trademark Sparks Intense BookTok Controversy

BreakingBusiness‘Hot Girls Read’ Trademark Sparks Intense BookTok ControversyByMary Whitfill Roeloffs,Forbes Staff. Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes breaking news reporter covering pop culture.Follow AuthorJun 08, 2026, 02:59pm EDTToplineA small business owner who was the target of a vicious online campaign after she successfully trademarked the phrase “Hot Girls Read” has said she’ll abandon the trademark in an attempt to “right my wrongs” after she was slammed for trying to monetize a community-created slogan used by dozens of other businesses. A person positions books ahead of the Turin International Book Fair. LightRocket via Getty ImagesKey FactsAllie Mitrovich, who founded Allie Rose Co. in 2020 selling book-related merchandise, posted on her shop’s Instagram account last week that she’d successfully trademarked the phrase “Hot Girls Read” in the categories of bookmarks, stickers, notebooks, notepads, sweatshirts and t-shirts. She then said she was aware of other small businesses selling merchandise in those categories that featured the saying, and asked they “please remove those listings from ur site as soon as possible 💛with love !!!!” The move has sparked one of the biggest controversies in the brief history of BookTok—a massively popular community on TikTok focused on books and reading—and has led to hundreds of videos and comments slamming Mitrovich (she ultimately turned off the ability to see or add new comments on her TikTok videos). Critics accused her of cultural appropriation (some argue "Hot Girls Read" derives from the broader "Hot Girl" cultural movement popularized by Megan Thee Stallion) and started to do deep-dives into the merchandise she sells, claiming she created and sold products heavily based on other brands’ trademarked works (specifically Pantone and Little Miss). The anger led to the creation of a GoFundMe by fantasy author Michele Khalil, who raised $2,000 to formally petition Mitrovich’s trademark be revoked. There are...