Meloni applies to EU for voice trademark to counter AI deepfakes

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has filed a sound trademark application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, using two four-second voice samples of "Io sono Giorgia Meloni," and the application is currently under examination. This move comes ahead of Italy's general election next year, as a large number of deepfake videos impersonating her to promote investment schemes have recently appeared on social media, and her voice clone has also been used in campaign ads urging voters to oust her. Lawyer Guido Scorza believes that filing a trademark infringement complaint makes it easier to get platforms to remove content than filing a personal data complaint; Gianni Riotta, head of the Italian Digital Media Observatory, noted that trademark protection is unlikely to curb the scale of deepfake spread, and its real value lies in raising public awareness.