New York: Pop superstar Taylor Swift has formally asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office to deny a federal trademark application filed by a bedding company for the phrase ‘Swift Home,’ arguing the branding could confuse consumers.
In a filing submitted, Swift’s company, TAS Rights Management LLC, stated that the cursive ‘Swift’ featured in the logo of Cathay Home Inc closely resembles the singer’s own trademarked signature. The filing contends that the similarity is likely to mislead shoppers into believing that Swift has endorsed, approved, or is affiliated with Cathay’s bedding products.
Cathay Home’s website indicates that its products are sold through major US retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, and Nordstrom, among others. The company applied last year to register the ‘Swift Home’ trademark for a range of bedding items such as pillows, mattresses, and sheets.
Taylor Swift, a 14-time Grammy Award winner, recently completed her ‘Eras’ tour, which became the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. According to the filing, she owns multiple federal trademarks covering the use of her name on merchandise including bed linens, clothing, and other consumer goods.
Swift’s legal team argues that Cathay’s proposed trademark would create a likelihood of consumer confusion, particularly given the visual similarity of the stylised signature. Neither attorneys nor spokespeople representing Taylor Swift or Cathay Home immediately responded regarding the filing.
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben, who first reported on the opposition but is not involved in the dispute, noted that Swift has filed relatively few trademark oppositions compared to other celebrities with similarly extensive intellectual property portfolios.
Gerben suggested that the resemblance between Cathay’s logo and Swift’s well-known signature may have been the factor that prompted the challenge.
“Normally, somebody that has as much invested in IP as Taylor Swift does, we would see more activity at the Trademark Office,” Gerben said, adding that there has not been an especially aggressive enforcement effort around the use of the name ‘Swift.’
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