{"id":10954,"date":"2026-06-13T23:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T23:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/lionel-richie-trademarks-his-voice-joining-stars-like-taylor-swift\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T23:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T23:45:01","slug":"lionel-richie-trademarks-his-voice-joining-stars-like-taylor-swift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/lionel-richie-trademarks-his-voice-joining-stars-like-taylor-swift\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Richie Trademarks His Voice, Joining Stars Like Taylor Swift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tLionel Richie has applied for trademarks on the sound of his voice, including his iconic song lyric \u201cHello, is it me you\u2019re looking for?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe legendary singer filed four applications Thursday (June 11) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, covering sound recordings of his voice singing choruses to his famous songs, also including \u201cSay You, Say Me,\u201d \u201cEasy\u201d and \u201cAll Night Long (All Night).\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tTrademarks on sounds \u2014 like the NBC chimes or the Netflix \u201ctuh-dum\u201d noise \u2014 are historically rare. But music giants like Taylor Swift and movie stars like Matthew McConaughey have recently applied for them out of growing fears over voice cloning, unauthorized AI training and other threats.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filings, obtained and reviewed by Billboard<\/em>, were first reported by Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney unaffiliated with the matter. Gerben tells Billboard<\/em> that such efforts are part of a broader effort to confront \u201cthe most significant threat that musical artists have faced since Napster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLeft unchecked, the AI platforms could use the artists\u2019 images and voices to create any type of content imaginable. This could lead to revenue losses and reputational damage,\u201d Gerben says. \u201cThe goal of the trademark filings is to keep the AI platforms in check by prohibiting them from allowing users to create content that looks like or sounds like the artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRichie\u2019s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday (June 12).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe growth of AI technology has made it far easier to mimic voices and create fake videos, flooding the internet with such misleading content and leaving stars with little recourse. An individual\u2019s name, likeness and even voice have historically been guarded via so-called publicity rights, but those rights are only protected under a patchwork of state laws and come with key limitations.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the absence of stronger safeguards, stars have increasingly turned to trademarks. Swift applied in April to register her voice saying \u201cHey, it\u2019s Taylor\u201d and \u201cHey, it\u2019s Taylor Swift.\u201d Last year, McConaughey sought protection over audio of him saying his famous \u201cAlright, alright, alright\u201d from the film Dazed and Confused<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s unclear how effective such efforts will be. Trademark law is more aimed at protecting brand names, logos and other symbols that help consumers find a particular product. It doesn\u2019t give blanket protection to a person\u2019s overall identity. For instance, it\u2019s far from certain that Richie\u2019s sound trademarks would give him any power to stop someone from using his voice but for different words.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey also face hurdles just to get the trademarks in the first place. To win a federal registration, an applicant like Richie must prove that consumers associate his sought-after trademark \u2014 in this case, his voice saying the specific lyrics \u2014 with particular goods or services. Gerben says his lawyers might face an uphill on that front.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhether Richie\u2019s applications ultimately succeed remains an open question,\u201d he says. \u201cFrom a technical trademark perspective, these filings will be challenging because the USPTO will expect evidence that the sounds function as trademarks rather than simply famous lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat Richie and Swift are nonetheless turning to such unproven methods is a sign of the lack of true legal protections as the problem of AI deepfakes and voice cloning grows. Publicity rights vary from state-to-state and have historically often only applied to unauthorized advertisements and endorsements. Lawmakers in Congress have proposed a federal NO FAKES Act to offer stronger safeguards at a national level, but have so far made little progress passing it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFilings like this are early moves in a much bigger shift,\u201d Ruth Zive<\/strong>, CMO of\u00a0Voices, a voice platform, tells Billboard<\/em>. \u201cWhat Richie is really establishing is provenance: proof that a voice came from a specific person who authorized its use. The infrastructure to solve that has to be built at the platform level, with clear consent, documented agreements, and fair compensation before a voice ever gets used.\u201d<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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