trademarks

Soon You’ll Have to Ask Taylor Swift Permission to Say ‘This Sick Beat’

“To the fella over there with the hella-good hair, you’re in violation of U.S. Copyright §86434791.”

Just think: When you’ve been getting down about the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world, you could have been trademarking the phrase This Sick Beat, which Taylor Swift just did, at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It’s one of a few 1989-related phrases the singer trademarked, along with “Party Like It’s 1989,” “‘Cause We Never Go Out of Style,” “Nice to Meet You. Where You Been?” and “Could Show You Incredible Things,” which Swift seeks to prevent others from using on “Paper products; Printed products; Printed publications; Stationery; Stickers; Decals; Decalcomanias; [and] Removable tattoo transfers,” among others. Fortunately, that weird squealing “Stay!” from “All You Had to Do Was Stay” remains in the public domain.

Taylor Swift Copyrights ‘This Sick Beat’