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Taylor Swift Files Trademarks for Voice and Image to Protect Against AI Misuse
Taylor Swift's company submitted three trademark applications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 24, 2026, covering her voice and a stage image. The move aims to safeguard against artificial intelligence deepfakes, following similar actions by actor Matthew McConaughey. Intellectual property experts view it as a response to growing AI threats to celebrities' likenesses.
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U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 24, 2026. The third is a visual trademark described as a photograph of Swift holding a pink guitar with a black strap, wearing a multicolored iridescent bodysuit with silver boots, standing on a pink stage in front of a multicolored microphone with purple lights in the background.
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The applications have been approved for publication and await assignment to an examining attorney. The second states, 'Hey, it’s Taylor. The image depicts Swift onstage in a sequined outfit holding a pink guitar.
Intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben noticed the filings and shared them in a blog post on April 27, 2026. Gerben stated that the trademarks are specifically designed to protect Swift from threats posed by artificial intelligence. 'Now anyone can spin up a version of an artist's voice, have it say anything, attach it to anything, and distribute it at scale,' Gerben wrote in the post.
Gerben told CBS News that he believes celebrities could require such protections as AI tools make it easy to generate audio, visual, and video content known as deepfakes. Gerben called Swift a leader in the intellectual property space and said he expects other public figures to take similar steps.
He added that Swift is seeing a trend where AI is being used to create images, audio, and deepfakes of things that are really not pleasant.
Gerben wrote that while existing Right of Publicity laws offer some protection against unauthorized use of a famous individual’s likeness, trademark filings can provide an additional layer of protection. He noted that registering a celebrity’s spoken voice is a new use of trademark registration that has not been tested in courts.
