Taylor Swift asks US government to block 'Swift Home' trademark

By Blake Brittain Feb 12 (Reuters) – Pop superstar Taylor Swift has asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to block a bedding company from securing a federal trademark featuring the phrase "Swift Home," arguing it would confuse shoppers.  Swift's company TAS Rights Management LLC told the agency in a filing on Wednesday the cursive "Swift" in Cathay Home Inc's logo closely resembles the singer's trademarked signature and would likely mislead consumers into thinking that she endorsed Cathay's products. Attorneys and spokespeople for Swift and Cathay Home did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the filing. Cathay's website says it sells its products through Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Nordstrom and other retailers. It applied last year to register a federal "Swift Home" trademark covering bedding items including pillows, mattresses and sheets.  Taylor Swift is a 14-time Grammy Award winner whose recent "Eras" tour was the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. Her company's filing on Wednesday said she owns federal trademarks covering the use of her name on bed linens, clothing and other products, and that Cathay's proposed trademark would cause consumer confusion. Swift has experience with intellectual property disputes, but Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney who first reported the filing, told Reuters the pop megastar has filed relatively few trademark oppositions for a celebrity of her stature. Gerben, who is not involved in the case, said the logo's similarity to her signature may have been the trigger. "Normally, somebody that has as much invested in IP as Taylor does, we would see more activity at the Trademark Office," Gerben said. "There just hasn't been this really strong enforcement or policing effort around 'Swift.'" (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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