Singer and songwriter Taylor Swift has applied to trademark her voice and appearance amid artificial intelligence (AI) impersonations.
Swift filed three trademark applications in the United States: one using a photo of herself during the Eras Tour, and two using voice audio clips of her introducing herself while promoting her “The Life of a Showgirl” album.
This follows recent AI-generated versions of the pop star that have cropped up over the past few years, ranging from explicit images to a fake election ad in which she appeared to urge people to vote for Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, this move comes after Matthew McConaughey became the first celebrity to use trademark rules to protect one’s voice and image from AI misuse earlier this year.
According to the trademark application, the photo chosen to represent the singer is an image of her on stage "holding a pink guitar, with a black strap and wearing a multi-colored iridescent bodysuit with silver boots,” which has been previously used as one of the official promotional images for the Disney+ film of the Eras Tour.
On the other hand, the trademark audio of herself says "Hey, it's Taylor" and "Hey, it's Taylor Swift," coming from recorded clips utilized for Spotify and Amazon Music.
Registering trademarks could allow her to stop AI from using her image and voice, according to lawyer Josh Gerben, who published details of Swift’s application on his blog.
"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," Gerben wrote.
The lawyer emphasized that, if a lawsuit were filed over the use of AI-generated content using Swift’s voice or image, she could assert rights over any usage that resembles her registered trademarks, as such use may violate her rights.