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Taylor Swift Filed Trademarks For Her Voice And Image Over AI Concern

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Taylor Swift has filed applications to trademark her voice and image over concerns of it being used improperly with artificial intelligence. 

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Last week, Swift’s company TAS Rights Management filed three trademark applications, according to Variety. Two of the applications are sound trademarks that cover Swift saying the phrases “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it’s Taylor.”

The third application is looking to trademark the well-known shot of Swift on stage during her Eras tour. The application lays out “a photograph of Taylor Swift holding a pink guitar, with a black strap and wearing a multi-colored iridescent bodysuit with silver boots. She is standing on a pink stage in front of a multi-colored microphone with purple lights in the background.”

Swift is joining the likes of many other high profile celebrities working to trademark some of their most iconic lines, sayings, and overall image. 

Matthew McConaughey recently trademarked his famous “all right, all right, all right” catchphrase from 1993’s Dazed and Confused as well as other unauthorized uses of his image and voice. 

“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” McConaughey said in a statement. 

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“We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”

Swift is also in the group of many public figures whose likeness and image has been used in a multitude of AI visuals and deepfakes, including fake AI-created sexually explicit images. In 2024, Donald Trump himself even posted multiple AI images of Swift endorsing him for president. 

“Attempting to register a celebrity’s spoken voice is a new use of trademark registration that has not been tested in court before,” said intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben.

“Historically, singers relied on copyright law to protect their recorded music. But AI technologies now allow users to generate entirely new content that mimics an artist’s voice without copying an existing recording, creating a gap that trademarks may help fill,” he said. 

“By registering specific phrases tied to her voice, Swift could potentially challenge not only identical reproductions, but also imitations that are ‘confusingly similar’, a key standard in trademark law.”

Swift currently owns over 50 trademarks related to her name, album titles, and song lyrics. 

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NCAA Sues DraftKings Over Use Of March Madness Trademarks 

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The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) filed a complaint in federal court last week in which they’re requesting an emergency restraining order to stop the online sportsbook DraftKings from using registered trademarks connected to March Madness and the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. 

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According to reports the trademark infringement complaint was filed in the Southern District of Indiana. 

It specifically is requesting that DraftKings stops using terms like “March Madness,” “Final Four,” “Elite Eight,” and “Sweet Sixteen,” as well as variations of them in sports betting products, campaigns, or marketing. 

In the complaint, the NCAA stated that their trademarks are used in order to identify, brand, advertise, and distinguish the tournaments across various broadcast media, digital platforms, merchandise, sponsorships, and licensed commercial activities. 

“On the eve of the Tournaments, DraftKings deliberately adopted and prominently began using the NCAA’s iconic NCAA Basketball Marks, including confusingly similar variations thereof, to trade on – and usurp – the immense goodwill, recognition, and consumer trust embodied in those Marks at the precise moment of peak public attention,” the complaint said.

In the exhibits attached to the complaint, screenshots of DraftKings wagering platforms were used to exemplify the NCAA’s issue. 

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“DraftKings’s unlawful use quickly proliferated across its consumer-facing websites and mobile applications, embedding the marks and logos into betting menus, promotional graphics, and marketing publications, to deliberately exacerbate consumer confusion and reinforce a false association with or sponsorship by the NCAA in order to continuously capitalize on the goodwill of the NCAA,” the complaint said.

The NCAA also said that it avoids any appearance of affiliation with gambling companies. They’ve declined sponsorships, banned sports betting by athletes and staff, and have publicly made their opposition to prop and micro bets clear. 

The NCAA also said that it had launched initiatives to prevent harassment and improper influence in college sports. They’re biggest focus is to maintain integrity when it comes to the sport and competitions as well. 

“Every day that DraftKings continues to use these marks, millions of sports fans – and, critically, college students and young adults who are particularly susceptible to gambling harm – are exposed to the false suggestion that the Association has authorized or endorsed DraftKings’ gambling platform,” the NCAA said in a statement.