She’s at it again. Earlier this year Taylor Swift was attempting to trademark a bunch of phrases including ‘this sick beat’ and ‘we never go out of style’ in the United States. All of which are lyrics from her 1989 album, which has sold over 4 million copies.
She has now added to the list of words and phrases she wants to have all to herself and, according to documents filed to the US Patent and Trademark Office on 3 December, is attempting to trademark the word ‘Swiftmas’, as well as the date ‘1989’ itself.
The singer’s acts of generosity and kindness, known as ‘Swiftmas’, have included paying off one fan’s student loan and sending out personalised gifts.
The filings by her intellectual property company, TAS (Taylor Alison Swift) Rights Management, were originally reported on the Tantalising Trademarks website.
So what does this mean? Other than that Taylor has a very very busy legal team. Well, if Taylor is granted these trademarks it will mean that nobody else can use the phrases in performances, on T-shirts, merchandise or consumer goods of any kind, like stationery and books.
Not all that different to when Rihanna won a court case against Topshop last year after they printed a load of unauthorised T-shirts with her face on them.
While expending time and money on trademarking words might seem trivial, it’s likely that the singer is just trying to make sure that other people can’t profit from knock-off clothing and merchandise which trades on her work.
So, unless you were born in ‘1989’ and planning to print several T-shirts bearing your birth year on the front, it’s probably best to just shake it off and let her get on with it. Haters gonna hate, etc.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.