We recently wrote about
Taylor Swift's trade mark protection activities, in which
she applied to register her lyrics "This Sick
Beat" and "Cause We Never Go out of
Style" as trade marks for a range of merchandise.
It was a decision that raised eyebrows. In fact, it even managed
to offend certain recording artists who seemed to feel that this
was capitalistic, and who accused Swift of trying to monopolise
language. However, it was a smart move by an artist who understands
the concept of celebrity endorsement; ie, a celebrity who can be
identified by many things, including his or her name, image or
signature, or even words associated with them.
Manufacturing companies may well see merit in using some of
these identifying features on merchandise, and these companies will
pay for the right to do so – but they'll only pay if
they're satisfied that the celebrity has enforceable rights;
the sort that you get through trade mark registration.
