By Daryl Lim
Publication Date: 2026-05-28 12:42:00
As one of the most popular celebrities in the world, Taylor Swift has already endured her fair share of AI-related abuse.
Fake nude photos of the singer have spread widely on the internet. Her voice and likeness were also used to spread fabricated political messages and fake product endorsements.
In April 2026, Swift pushed back. Her intellectual property and brand management company, TAS Rights Management, filed trademark applications for short audio clips of her voice and visual likeness.
As a law professor, I was impressed by Swift’s submissions because they highlight a new legal frontier in artificial intelligence.
Most AI-related litigation focuses on copyright, which protects creative works such as songs, books, photos and recordings from being copied, distributed, adapted or publicly performed without permission.
However, TAS Rights Management’s latest move concerns trademark law, not copyright. The files aren’t really about protecting Swift’s lyrics or…
