Taylor Swift Trademarks ‘Swiftmas’ in Time for the Holidays and the Much-Awaited Release of "1989"

In a recent trademark application, Taylor Swift sought to protect the name "Swiftmas" in the United States. If accepted, Taylor would be given permission to use the name and logo on journals, stationery, and apparel (including but not limited to tops, bottoms, and hats). Taylor staged a virtual celebration called Swiftmas in 1989. For the holidays, she took the opportunity to show her appreciation to her legion of Swifties by showering them with presents.

As reported by Mirror, Taylor would hand-pick dedicated fans and emoji-mark their profiles. Since they weren't sure what to anticipate, fans were both perplexed and enthusiastic. For the holidays, she sent them a slew of personalized gifts through FedEx, which she referred to as "SwiftEx" parcels. Taylor gave out a variety of presents to her fans, including necklaces and candles that she personally wrapped. Swift has trademarked terms before, so this is not her first rodeo. Her name, signature, and initials, as well as the names of her albums Fearless and Speak Now, are all protected by copyright.

Back in 2015, Swift filed trademark applications for a phrase and other song-related terms, signaling a change in the business as musicians, lyricists, and publishers develop their own identities as brands. Lyrics from her 1989 album that include the lines "This sick beat" and "Cause we never go out of style" are among the others that Swift wanted to trademark. There must be a good reason why Swift decided to trademark the lines rather than just copyright them. Professor of Law at New York University Christopher Jon Sprigman pointed out that copyright law, which protects lyrical content, does not cover single words or phrases. He noted that the issue doesn't occur when copyrighting the lyrics as a whole, but that it does offer a challenge when copyrighting a song title since it is a brief phrase.

Swiftmas shows exactly why Swift's followers are so devoted to her. One of the most successful years for Taylor to date was 2014 when she sold over 3 million copies of her album 1989, graced the covers of dozens of major publications, and received dozens of awards, including Billboard's 2014 Woman of the Year and the American Music Association's (AMA) first-ever Dick Clark Award for Excellence. Despite the chaos, the singer has found time to go Christmas shopping and give each of her fans pricey, customized gifts. One fan told Billboard, "There’s no one in the music industry who has a big of a heart as she does. You can tell that she wrapped all the gifts personally. She uses a ridiculous amount of tape. I think this is her saying that she recognizes and really appreciates that. She’s trying to really interact with her fans as much as possible now... It’s just starting to dawn on me that the person who sent me all these gifts is the same person who tours the world and sells multimillion albums and… Oh my gosh."