Taylor Swift has owned 2015. And if the pop star gets her way, certain stylized forms of “1989” will be hers, too.
The pop singer has attempted to trademark the date “1989,” but only as it pertains to stylized forms that would imitate the name of her recent album, according to the Guardian. Swift’s intellectual property company, TAS (Taylor Alison Swift) Rights Management, filed the request to the US Patent and Trademark Office on December 3, apparently as a means to stop holiday season bootlegging of the superstar’s merchandise.
Also in the request is a claim on “Swiftmas” (Swift’s word for her acts of kindness, which have included paying off a fan’s student loan debts, making personalized gifts to her supporters, and other charitable efforts), her 1989 single title “Blank Space,” a lyric from that song (“…and I’ll write your name”), and “A Girl Named Girl,” which is the title of an unpublished book she wrote when she was 14.
This isn’t the first time Tay Tay has locked in phrases, lyrics, and titles from her wildly successful career. Here’s more from the Guardian:
It adds to a raft of applications submitted by the singer’s management earlier this year for lyrics including “this sick beat” and “Nice to meet you, where you been?”.
The latter is the title of a novel Swift wrote when she was 14, which is reportedly in her parents’ care but has so far remained unpublished. If granted, the trademarks will prevent rivals using the phrases in performances, on clothing, merchandise, consumer goods, stationery, and in books and publications.
While three of the applications seek to forbid the words presented in any “standard characters”, the file for 1989 stipulates the trademark applies only to the date presented in “stylised form” – presumably imitating Swift’s album of the same name.
The previous wave of filings came shortly before the start of her 1989 World Tour, which launched in May, and previous attempts date back to October last year.