Taylor Swift has a lot on her plate these days. With hackers taking over her Twitter and Instagram account on Jan. 27 and later threatening to leak nude photos, which she says don't exist by the way, Swift has had to do some damage control lately.
But amid all of that, let's just take a moment to appreciate the business mastermind that Swift is. We recently learned that Swift is trying to monetarily protect some of her truly poetic song lyrics.
Shortly before the release of her fifth studio album 1989 on Oct. 27, 2014, Swift filed for a bunch of trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. They include the phrases "this sick beat" from her song "Shake it Off," "cause we never go out of style" from "Style," "could show you incredible things" and "Nice to meet you. Where you been?" from "Blank Space." Swift also trademarked "Party like it's 1989," which is just something people might start saying, I guess.
Swift has trademarked the use of "This Sick Beat," for instance, on everything ranging from apparel to bean bags to candle holders. I wonder what a "sick beat" candle would smell like.
Anyway. As Vox points out, with the sale of singles and albums not quite making the same amount of money these days, artists need to find alternative revenue streams if they want to continue to make dollar dollar bills. Making sure that you and only you profit off of your work is key to doing that. Need I remind you of Swift pulling her music from Spotify at the end of last year?
Beyonce also knows what's up. The singer recently grabbed headlines when she reportedly threatened legal action against Etsy for selling products that riff on her name, such as a "Feyonce" mug, which played on her name and the word "fiance."
Swift is no stranger to the trademark process, at least the legal side of it. She won a trademark lawsuit in 2010 against 16 individuals she claimed violated trademark by selling counterfeit merch with her name and image. More recently, the company Blue Sphere, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Swift last spring that alleged she infringed on their copyright of the phrase "Lucky 13" when she used it in the name of a sweepstakes with American Greetings.
I laugh every time I hear Swift say "This sick beat" in "Shake it off." I think it's a ridiculous lyric. However, with this new trademark, it looks like Swift is the one who's going to be laughing. Laughing all the way to the bank, that is.
