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4 February 2015Patents

Taylor Swift targeted in ‘This Sick Beat’ protest song

A musician has recorded a protest song against singer Taylor Swift’s application to trademark phrases including ‘This Sick Beat’, and has described the trademarking of common phrases as an “attack on freedom of speech”.

Ben Norton uploaded the song—called This Sick Beat tm—to video sharing website YouTube under the moniker PeculateMusic.

The two minute track consists of the three words being repeatedly shouted with the words ‘This Sick Beat tm’ flashing on the screen.

The video, uploaded on January 31, has been viewed more than 38,000 times.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Swift had applied to the US Patent and Trademark Office to register ‘This Sick Beat’, which is a lyric from her single Shake it Off.

Other phrases Swift sought to protect include ‘Nice to meet you. Where you been’, a lyric from her song Blank Space, and ‘Party like it's 1989’ – a reference to her album title 1989.

In a statement accompanying the video, PeculateMusic said that the registering of trademarks for “common idioms” is a “direct attack on one of the most fundamental and inalienable rights of all: our freedom of speech”.

The statement added: “If you give the bourgeoisie an inch, they will take a mile... and everything else you have in the process. They have already privatised land, water, and words. After language, they will next try to privatise air.

“But, although the rich can try, they will never truly own the words we use and the language we speak,” it said.

Taylor Swift’s management company did not respond to a request for comment.

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