London (CNN) — Taylor Swift has filed new trademark applications for two voice clips and one image that a trademark attorney says are “specifically designed” to protect the pop superstar from threats posed by artificial intelligence.
The filings highlight the challenges that AI poses to the entertainment industry, as AI tools generate realistic videos with well-known performers and flood streaming platforms with digital music.
Swift’s applications were filed Friday with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and add to hundreds of other trademark filings that list her company TAS Rights Management as the owner.
What sets these filings apart is the inclusion of “sound marks,” which are a “lesser known category of trademark protection,” Josh Gerben, a US-based trademark attorney and founder of Gerben IP, wrote in a blog Monday. “Attempting to register a celebrity’s spoken voice is a new use of trademark registration that has not been tested in court before,” he noted.
In one of the audio clips, Swift is heard saying: “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift, and you can listen to my new album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ on demand, on Amazon Music Unlimited.”
In the other clip, she says: “Hey! It’s Taylor. My brand new album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is out on October 3rd and you can click to pre-save it so you can listen to it on Spotify.”
The image that Swift is seeking to protect is a photograph of her on stage holding a pink guitar and wearing a sequinned outfit — an iconic look from her recent globe-trotting Eras tour.
According to Gerben, actor Matthew McConaughey has filed similar applications in recent months to protect his voice and his image, “testing new theories on how trademark law will work in the AI age.”
The filings come as traditional copyright laws, which protect artists’ works from imitation, fail to guard against AI-generated content. “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,” Gerben said.
In theory, Swift could claim in a lawsuit that any use of her voice that sounds like the registered trademark — or AI-generated images of her in a jumpsuit with a guitar — violate her rights, he added.
Swift has filed more than 300 trademark applications in the United States alone, a strategy that helps to “reinforce” her brand, according to Leticia Caminero an intellectual property lawyer at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
CNN has reached out to Swift’s lawyers for comment.
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