Taylor Swift is looking to add to her portfolio of trademarks, a legal move that appears to be aimed at pushing back against unauthorized artificial intelligence productions.
Two of the trademark applications, filed on Friday, seek protection of her voice. They feature clips of her saying “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it’s Taylor.” A third, meant to combat AI images created on the internet using AI, features a photograph of the singer holding a pink guitar, with a black strap and wearing a multi-colored bodysuit with silver boots.
The trademarks represent a new avenue celebrities are pursuing to challenge AI companies and users simulating their likenesses and voices without permission. Earlier this year, Matthew McConaughey had several trademark applications approved, including audio of him saying “Alright, alright, alright,” his iconic line from the movie Dazed and Confused and another that shows him standing on a porch.
A patchwork of right of publicity laws are meant to protect celebrities from having their brands stolen to advertise products. Several states, however, don’t maintain such laws, making enforcement difficult.
With the trademarks, Swift and McConaughey likely hope that the specter of federal lawsuits will deter misuse. For Swift, she can hypothetically argue that AI creations using her voice and image violate her intellectual property rights.
Still, the theory remains untested. Although trademarks protect against similar reproductions that can confuse consumers, they’re not meant to be utilized as a catch-all protecting every feature of a performer’s brand.
“I don’t believe it will be very effective, except for in rare circumstances,” says Matthew Asbell, an intellectual property lawyer at Lippes Mathias. “The voice trademarks are particularly limited to what Taylor is actually staying: ‘Hey, it’s Taylor’ or ‘Hey, it’s Taylor Swift.’”
The upshot: the phrase featured in Swift’s trademark bid is more important than the singer’s voice. “So, unless another party uses [her] voice to say the same thing or something very similar, it should be difficult to use these trademarks to enforce against them,” Asbell adds.
The same problem applies to Swift’s application covering her photograph. Any infringing reproduction would have to utilize a similar image for the trademark, if it’s granted, to have much use.
There’s also the issue of whether the phrase, “Hey, it’s Taylor,” is well-known enough to rise to the level of protection. The singer is megafamous, but the line doesn’t appear to be.
Last year, an AI-generated version of Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia,” entered Spotify’s Top 50 chart in Brazil before being removed. The track used AI to blend Swift’s voice with synthetic audio modeled after top Brazilian singers. Even if Swift is granted her most recent trademarks, there are few avenues for creators to challenge AI reproductions across borders.
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