‘I Am Giorgia Meloni’: Can a Trademark Protect Politicians From AI Deepfakes?

Michael D. Hobbs, Jr., a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Trademark + Copyright Practice Group, was quoted in the October 7, 2026, World IP Review article, “‘I Am Giorgia Meloni’: Can a Trademark Protect Politicians From AI Deepfakes?”

• But, as Michael Hobbs, partner at Troutman Pepper Locke, bluntly puts it: “Trademark law was built to stop knockoff sneakers, not to stop sexually explicit deepfakes of a prime minister.”
• …
• “In the EU, a registration needs genuine use to survive, and filing without any intention to use can be bad faith.
• “Trademark law asks, ‘Are you using this to sell something?’, and politicians have an unusually interesting answer, since the product is often themselves,” Hobbs says.
• “Whether the EUIPO will accept that Meloni is ‘selling herself’ for registration purposes remains to be seen.”
• …
• There is also a significant gap between trademark law and the ways in which deepfakes are used, notes Hobbs.
• …
• “The certainty of one law instead of patchwork coverage, and the ability to license and assign trademark rights, provide significant reasons for this strategic turn to trademarks in lieu of rights of publicity,” says Hobbs.
• …
• Hobbs adds: “Trademarks are also licensable, which suits celebrities who want to approve some AI uses and block the rest through legal entities that own, license, and enforce the rights.
• …
• Hobbs warns that the chief caveat is that a trademark is a supplement, not a replacement.
• “Publicity and personality rights protect identity itself, with no need for distinctiveness, registration or goods and services. Trademarks require commercial use and a likelihood of confusion, and they cover a specific registered sound, not ‘a voice’.”
• The sensible strategy, he advises, is to deploy as many rights as possible. “Register and use the marks, and keep the publicity, privacy, criminal and statutory digital-replica claims in the toolbox. Think belt and suspenders and use both.”