The documents were filed on behalf of TAS Rights Management on April 24 and purport to “a broader shift in how celebrities are applying trademark law to fight AI,” according to a post written by intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben.
Among the singer’s requests, two correspond to sound trademarks that cover her voice: “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it’s Taylor.”
The third is a visual brand that encompasses “a photograph of Taylor Swift holding a pink guitar with a black strap, while wearing a bodysuit multicolored iridescent dress and silver boots”, an outfit that is related to her performances during The Eras Tour.
According to the lawyer, Swift’s measure may provide an additional layer of protection to that offered by current laws on the “right to one’s own image” against the unauthorized use of a famous person’s image.
“By registering specific phrases linked to her voice, Swift could challenge not only identical reproductions, but also imitations that are ‘confusingly similar,’ a key criterion in trademark law,” Gerben’s brief explains.
Regarding the filing of lawsuits based on images, the lawyer detailed that “by protecting a distinctive visual element, such as the jumpsuit (one-piece article of clothing) that Swift usually wears and her pose, Swift’s team can obtain additional arguments to file lawsuits against manipulated or AI-generated images that evoke her image.”
Taylor Swift’s image has been used without her consent in various false content created with artificial intelligence, including pornographic images that circulated on the internet.
Even before the 2024 US presidential election, Donald Trump shared AI-created images that misleadingly implied that Swift supported him.
Before being a singer, the American-born artist, Taylor Swift She describes herself as a composer. Vogue explains that living in Nashville, Tennessee, and having finished high school early, the Taylor Swift At the age of 14, he was one of the first talents to be signed by the Big Machine Records label.
On October 24, 2006 it was released Taylor Swifta self-titled album that contained three songs written entirely by the country singer and others co-written with collaborators. Taylor’s first album rose to No. 5 on the charts in its first few days, staying there for 157 consecutive weeks.
Swift joins the actor in this measure Matthew McConaugheywho registered similar trademarks in recent months to protect his voice and image. In 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted eight trademarks to the actor.
McConaughey said last February, “Don’t deny it. It’s not going to be enough to just sit back and make the moral plea of, ‘No, this is wrong.’ It’s not going to last. There’s too much money to be made, and it’s too productive. So I say: Own yourself. Voice, image, etc. Record it. Do what you have to do, so that when it comes, no one can steal from you.”
Rolling Stone magazine explains that in January, the actor had eight applications approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which included works such as a seven-second video of him standing on a porch, a three-second clip of him in front of a Christmas tree and a voice message of him saying: “‘”Okay, okay, okay.”‘”