Taylor Swift Trademarks Her Voice and Image to Combat AI Impersonation

Taylor Swift Trademarks Her Voice and Image to Combat AI Impersonation

Taylor Swift is the latest A-list celebrity to turn to trademark law as a shield against AI-generated impersonations of her voice and likeness — joining a growing strategy pioneered by actor Matthew McConaughey.

On Friday, April 24, the singer's business entity, TAS Rights Management, filed three new trademark applications with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Two of the applications cover sound marks for her spoken voice: the phrases "Hey, it's Taylor Swift" and "Hey, it's Taylor." A third filing seeks protection for a distinctive visual associated with the artist, reportedly including a recognizable jumpsuit and signature pose.

The filings were first surfaced by intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben and reported by Variety.

*Image: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — accompanying Swift's trademark application.*

Why Trademarks — and Why Now

Trademark law has not historically been the go-to tool for safeguarding an individual's voice, face, or general persona. Those protections have typically lived under state right-of-publicity statutes. But the rapid rise of generative AI — and its ability to clone a celebrity's voice or fabricate photo-realistic imagery in seconds — is pushing entertainers and their lawyers to look for stronger, broader legal weapons.

Travis Crabtree, co-founder of Trademark Engine, says the move reflects a fundamental shift in how high-profile figures think about identity protection.

"What we're watching is celebrities reverse-engineering trademark law to fit a problem it wasn't originally built for," Crabtree said. "A right-of-publicity claim stops at a state line. A federal trademark registration doesn't. If you're an artist whose voice can be replicated by anyone with a laptop, that distinction matters enormously."

Swift's likeness has already been weaponized in a number of high-profile AI incidents. Deepfake pornographic images of the singer circulated widely online in 2024, Meta's AI chatbots generated unauthorized depictions of her, and former President Donald Trump shared fabricated AI images during the 2024 campaign that falsely implied Swift had endorsed him.

Following the McConaughey Playbook

Swift's strategy closely mirrors one Matthew McConaughey's legal team executed last year. In 2025, the USPTO granted McConaughey eight trademarks, including a sound mark covering audio of his iconic "Alright, alright, alright!" line from *Dazed and Confused*, along with audio and video clips of the actor.

The thinking behind that approach — sometimes referred to as the "trademark yourself" strategy — is that registered marks give the rights-holder an additional cause of action when an AI-generated replica surfaces online. Right-of-publicity laws on the books in states like California and New York already prohibit unauthorized commercial use of a person's image, but those claims are confined to state courts and state-by-state remedies. A federal trademark infringement suit, by contrast, applies nationally.

"The clever part isn't really the trademark itself — it's the venue and the leverage that comes with it," Crabtree said. "Federal court, statutory damages, and the ability to send a takedown that platforms actually have to take seriously. That's a meaningfully different toolkit than what publicity rights alone give you."

Crabtree noted that this strategy is not limited to just international superstars. "Trademark law protects use in commerce regardless whether a brand sells $100 or $1 billion. The same applies here — if you monetize your likeness, you should be entitled to similar protections."

A Parallel to Copyright Enforcement

The legal logic resembles how studios already police AI tools using copyright. In December 2025, Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google alleging that Gemini was being used to generate unauthorized copies of dozens of its trademarked characters. The offending videos were pulled within a day.

If Swift's trademarks are granted, her team could theoretically issue similar takedown demands to AI companies whose models produce content evoking her registered voice or visual identity.

"Platforms respond to enforceable rights faster than they respond to ethics arguments," Crabtree said. "When a takedown notice carries the weight of a federal trademark behind it, the calculation on the other end of that email changes very quickly."

"Swift and McConaughey are essentially writing the playbook in real time," Crabtree said. "Whatever the courts decide over the next few years is going to define how every celebrity, athlete, and public figure protects themselves in the AI era."