Popular singer Taylor Swift filed three trademark applications for her likeness and voice on April 24 in the United States. She filed for voice trademarks for the phrases “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it’s Taylor.” and one for an image of herself wearing a sparkly dress holding a guitar on stage.
The trademarks are believed to be filed to prevent her frequently used phrases and iconic image from being misused by artificial intelligence (AI). In the United States, artists’ voices and likenesses are already covered by the Right of Publicity, which prevents faces and voice clips from being used without permission.
But this was under a law that predated the introduction of generative AI technology. Swift’s trademark is seen as another layer of protection against misuse of her likeness and voice.
If the trademark is approved, Swift could block AI voice imitations that sound like her and digital content that uses images or visual styles that resemble the registered likeness.
This is the issue that Scarlett Johanssen faced when OpenAI's voice mod offered a virtual assistant that mimicked her voice in the movie Her two years ago.
OpenAI said at the time that the Black Widow actress' voice was not used, but that they used other actors who looked similar. When the issue went viral, OpenAI quickly pulled the Johanssen-like voice from their app before legal action was pursued.
As the most streamed artist in Spotify history, Taylor Swift wants to make sure her likeness and voice are not misused. She became the second high-profile artist to file a trademark for her voice after Matthew McConaughey did so earlier this year.
Misuse of artist likeness and voice has become a big issue since the launch of Sora and Seedance this year. Owners have to manually report abuse because the AI model does not put a limit on what users can generate.
iQIYI received criticism from Chinese artists last week because its Nadou Pro model has a database of 100 actors that can be generated using AI. Permission was not sought and their images were used to promote Nadou Pro, which claims to enable film and drama production to be done entirely using generative AI without human actors and crews.
