Taylor Swift files several trademarks to protect voice and likeness from misuse

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Also tonight, uh, one of the most recognizable names in music, Taylor Swift, is taking some steps to try to protect herself from AI. Not just her music, but her voice as well. She's filed multiple trademark applications trying to protect a specific likeness from her era tour, as well as some audio you're going to recognize, like how she says her name. Listen to this.

[00:00:22]Hey, it's Taylor. Hey, it's Taylor Swift.

[00:00:26]She doesn't want anybody else aing that, right? This is the latest move by a big artist to try to protect themselves in this age of AI. It's not unprecedented by a public figure, even if it is the first for musician with Swift's stature.

[00:00:38]Remember Matthew McConna, we talked about this. He tried to get some similar trademark protections against AI content that misappropriates somebody's likeness. He was granted eight of those trademark protections. Let me get to Aaron McLolin without getting too like into the legalistic li lingo on all of this. This is a I mean Swift is a one of the biggest pop stars, one of the biggest celebrities in the world and she's trying to like throw some legal muscle behind protecting you know her content.

[00:01:05]>> Yeah, that's right, Hie. And the question being, will she be successful?

[00:01:09]This application has yet to be granted.

[00:01:12]Legal experts looking at this situation see this as an attempt in the age of AI for Taylor Swift to protect her image, her likeness, as well as her non uh singing voice. Remember her songs are trademarked, so those can't be legally replicated online. But everything else up for grabs in the era of deep fakes.

[00:01:36]So her legal team taking this action.

[00:01:38]And again, we'll have to see if it's granted, but this is an effort to sort of give her broader protection from those deep fakes. Take a listen to what one legal expert had to say.

[00:01:50]>> If you are able to secure a trademark on your likeness or your voice, then that is almost like having a legal notice that makes it much easier to get any images or sounds that could be confusingly similar taken down. So, if she were able to secure these trademarks, it would make it a lot easier to have images of her removed off the web when she doesn't want them there.

[00:02:14]So, more protection in theory if these trademarks are granted, but again, this is very much a legal black box. Matthew McConnA successfully trademarking that uh his saying, "All right, all right, all right." That has yet to be tested.

[00:02:31]In fact, none of this stuff has been tested so far in court. But what this does do is it um it allows a deterrent as well. Uh last year, uh Disney issued a cease and desist to Google's Gemini AI model. Gemini was producing uh likenesses of Disney characters, their films. Goo Gemini then pulled all of that content down at the request of Disney. So, it's also seen as an important deterrent going forward as well.

[00:03:04]>> But that is what's so interesting, Erin, you raised this idea like there is not some well-charted path that some of these celebrities can take that that gives them a blueprint of how to make these moves. It it really is, you know, we say unprecedented a lot here in DC, but it really is unprecedented waters in many ways.

[00:03:20]>> Yeah, absolutely. And the legal standard here is going to be confusingly similar.

[00:03:25]Are these AI deep fakes confusingly similar to the content uh that celebrities such as Taylor Swift, her image, her voice out there in on the internet right now?

[00:03:38]>> We thank you for watching and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.