Trademark Lessons from a Swiftie

1. Many elements go into making something great. Great songs, great voice, great connection with the audience, great charisma, great performance, great production—a lot of elements that go into it. And a trademark application has a lot of elements that go into it: the drawing, the description of goods and services, the dates of use, the evidence of use, the ownership.
2. It takes a lot of help to make something great. Incredible musicians playing on stage, dancers, choreographers, a whole team of people that make this event great. Experienced attorneys, in my opinion, are the best type of team to help make a trademark application the best it can be.
3. It’s a very long concert, and the trademark application process is a long and winding road, and currently takes a minimum of about a year and about a year and a half on average.
4. Creativity is key. This is part of what makes Taylor Swift’s brand and music so great. Nothing sounds exactly like it, and her voice changes from era to era, from album to album. In trademarks, creativity is also an essential key. To have a strong brand, you must build it on a creative name and a creative foundation in common.

Taylor Swift is a master of branding and trademark protection. She has over 180 registrations and applications at the USPTO. Before the concerts launched, she filed to protect Taylor Swift’s the ERAS tour, and on the day the movie announcement was made, she filed to protect the name in connection with films and movies. She is an expert at trademarks. You don’t need to be Taylor Swift to protect and register your brand — in fact, registration is even more important for small businesses because they don’t have a team of lawyers who can send demand letters and file lawsuits easily. So don’t let the success of Taylor Swift dissuade you from the importance of protecting your brand regardless of the size.