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Taylor and the Trademarks


Carl

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Taylor Swift has applied for trademarks to several phrases related to her album 1989, including:

"Party Like It's 1989,"

"This Sick Beat"

"Cause We Never Go Out Of Style."

"Nice to meet you. Where you been?"

"Could show you incredible things"

The reporting on this story is exceptionally lazy and sheep-like, implying that she is trying to cravenly capitalize anything she can, and making quips about how you'll need her permission to put "This Sick Beat" on a saddle.

Some of the stories mention that she couldn't trademark "Shake It Off," because it was owned by "A diet company." Well, there is a company that has the phrase trademarked for "meal replacement and dietary supplement drinks," but just after the song was released, another company applied to trademark the phrase for anything merch-related, including journals, calendars, decals and clothing. They did the same for these phrases:

"Cheaters Gonna Cheat"

"Players Gonna Play"

So really, this is a case of Swift trying to protect herself from a trademark troll. Can't blame her for wanting to ensure that her own lyrics don't show up on a bathrobe somebody decides to sell.

The other thing nobody mentions is that these are trademark applications - nothing has been granted and it will take a long time before any action is taken. Here's how Rolling Stone covered it, which is typical:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/taylor-swift-trademarks-this-sick-beat-and-other-1989-phrases-20150128

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