Taylor Swift is stepping up the legal war on AI copycats

泰勒·斯威夫特正在升级针对 AI 模仿者的法律战

Taylor Swift has been at the center of AI imitation controversies for years, and now, she’s become the latest celebrity who’s escalating attempts to protect herself from AI copycats. As usual, however, the legal system intersects with technology in complicated ways — and Swift’s efforts may be a long shot. 多年来，泰勒·斯威夫特一直处于 AI 模仿争议的中心。如今，她已成为最新一位升级法律手段以保护自己免受 AI 模仿者侵害的名人。然而，法律体系与技术的交集一如既往地复杂，斯威夫特的这些努力可能前路漫漫。

In trademark applications filed last week, Swift’s team asked for protection for two phrases spoken by the singer: “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it’s Taylor.” The trademark applications, filed by TAS Rights Management on behalf of Swift, include audio clips of Swift saying the two phrases as part of a promotion for her latest album. “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift, and you can listen to my new album The Life of a Showgirl on demand on Amazon Music Unlimited,” Swift says in one of the clips. TAS Rights Management filed a trademark application for a photo of Swift as well, which shows the musician “holding a pink guitar, with a black strap and wearing a multi-colored iridescent bodysuit with silver boots” on stage. 在上周提交的商标申请中，斯威夫特的团队请求保护这位歌手所说的两句话：“Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” 和 “Hey, it’s Taylor”。这些由 TAS Rights Management 代表斯威夫特提交的商标申请中，包含了斯威夫特为宣传其最新专辑时说出这两句话的音频片段。在其中一段音频中，斯威夫特说道：“嘿，我是泰勒·斯威夫特，你可以在 Amazon Music Unlimited 上点播我的新专辑《The Life of a Showgirl》。”此外，TAS Rights Management 还为斯威夫特的一张照片提交了商标申请，照片中这位音乐家在舞台上“拿着一把带有黑色背带的粉色吉他，身穿一件五彩斑斓的虹彩连体衣，脚蹬银色靴子”。

Though Swift’s team hasn’t said that the trademarks are meant to protect against AI misuse, it seems like a likely possibility given Swift’s history with AI. Not only has the star had to deal with the threat of AI music, but Swift also contended with an onslaught of sexualized AI deepfakes. 尽管斯威夫特的团队并未明确表示这些商标旨在防止 AI 滥用，但考虑到斯威夫特与 AI 的过往纠葛，这似乎极有可能。这位明星不仅要应对 AI 音乐带来的威胁，还曾不得不面对大量色情 AI 深度伪造（Deepfake）内容的侵扰。

Artists have long used copyright law to protect their music, but the rise of AI-generated tracks has made defending their work and likenesses more difficult. That’s because copyrights only protect an artist’s song — not their voice. Legal teams have had to get a bit creative as a result, with Universal Music Group (UMG) issuing copyright takedown requests of an AI-generated Drake song, citing the Metro Boomin producer tag that plays at the beginning. 长期以来，艺术家们一直利用版权法来保护他们的音乐，但 AI 生成曲目的兴起使得捍卫他们的作品和肖像权变得更加困难。这是因为版权法只保护艺术家的歌曲，而不保护他们的声音。因此，法律团队不得不采取一些创造性的手段，例如环球音乐集团（UMG）曾针对一首 AI 生成的德雷克（Drake）歌曲发出版权下架请求，理由是歌曲开头播放了 Metro Boomin 的制作人标签。

As explained by IP attorney Josh Gerben, trademarks could help fill the gap created by AI-generated mimicry. Instead of targeting exact copies of her music, Swift “could potentially challenge not only identical reproductions, but also imitations that are ‘confusingly similar,’” according to Gerben. The photo of Swift, similarly, could be potentially used to take action against similar AI-generated imagery. Earlier this year, Matthew McConaughey similarly obtained trademarks for video clips of himself, including one where he says “Alright, alright, alright,” to protect against AI misuse. 正如知识产权律师乔什·格本（Josh Gerben）所解释的那样，商标或许能填补 AI 模仿所带来的法律空白。格本表示，斯威夫特不仅可以挑战对其音乐的精确复制，还可能挑战那些“令人混淆的相似”模仿。同样，斯威夫特的照片也可能被用于针对类似的 AI 生成图像采取法律行动。今年早些时候，马修·麦康纳（Matthew McConaughey）也采取了类似做法，为自己的视频片段申请了商标，其中包括他那句标志性的“Alright, alright, alright”，旨在防止 AI 滥用。

But Alexandra Roberts, a professor of law and media at Northeastern University, tells The Verge that she’s “skeptical” that the audio clip submitted by Swift’s team “demonstrates use as a mark, rather than just a phrase that’s included as part of a longer message.” 然而，东北大学法律与媒体教授亚历山德拉·罗伯茨（Alexandra Roberts）告诉《The Verge》，她对斯威夫特团队提交的音频片段持“怀疑”态度，认为这“体现的是作为商标的使用，而不仅仅是作为长消息一部分的短语”。

Typically for a soundmark we’d think of something like the NBC chimes or the MGM lion roar that plays at the beginning of each show or movie in isolation … If the USPTO [US Patent and Trademark Office] does issue preliminary refusals, Taylor’s team will have a chance to provide different specimens that might do a better job satisfying the use requirement. “通常对于声音商标，我们会想到像 NBC 的钟声或米高梅电影公司（MGM）狮子吼那样，在每部节目或电影开头独立播放的声音……如果美国专利商标局（USPTO）发出初步拒绝通知，泰勒的团队将有机会提供不同的样本，这些样本可能更好地满足使用要求。”

Swift’s trademarks could serve as another legal tool in her arsenal against AI-generated copycats, even if they’re legally murky. Xiyin Tang, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, tells The Verge that trademarks could help “warn off unsophisticated infringers by directing them to a federal registration number and certificate of registration and hope that convinces them to stop, not because the federal registration would actually hold up in court.” 即便在法律上存在模糊地带，斯威夫特的商标仍可作为她对抗 AI 模仿者的又一法律武器。加州大学洛杉矶分校法学教授唐希音（Xiyin Tang）告诉《The Verge》，商标有助于“通过向那些不专业的侵权者展示联邦注册号和注册证书来起到警示作用，并希望以此说服他们停止侵权，而不是因为联邦注册在法庭上真的能站得住脚。”

There are already some avenues Swift’s team could take, including the right of publicity laws enacted across several states, which allow people to take legal action against the misuse of their name or likeness. Artists can combat false advertising and endorsements through federal law, too. “Swift also has numerous trademark registrations for her name, so she can sue for federal trademark infringement if there’s a use of her name by someone else that creates a likelihood of confusion,” Roberts says. 斯威夫特的团队目前还有其他途径，包括各州制定的公开权法，允许人们针对姓名或肖像的滥用采取法律行动。艺术家也可以通过联邦法律打击虚假广告和代言。“斯威夫特还拥有大量以她名字注册的商标，因此如果有人使用她的名字并造成混淆的可能性，她可以起诉联邦商标侵权，”罗伯茨说道。

So far, only Tennessee has passed a law that specifically addresses AI-generated copycats of an artist’s voice. Even YouTube’s deepfake detection tool, which gives celebrities, politicians, journalists, and creators the ability to take down AI-generated lookalikes, only applies to people copying their faces for now. In the absence of a larger framework for AI soundalikes, artists like Swift may hope trademark law will help defend against AI mimics that are coming not just for their faces, but their voices, too. 到目前为止，只有田纳西州通过了一项专门针对 AI 生成艺术家声音模仿者的法律。即便是 YouTube 的深度伪造检测工具，目前也仅适用于那些复制他人面孔的情况，该工具允许名人、政治家、记者和创作者下架 AI 生成的肖像。在缺乏针对 AI 声音模仿的更广泛框架的情况下，像斯威夫特这样的艺术家或许只能寄希望于商标法，来抵御那些不仅针对她们面孔、更针对她们声音的 AI 模仿者。