What Meloni filed
According to Reuters, the application is “dated October 5 on the EUIPO website and confirmed by her office”, and includes “a four-second audio recording of herself twice repeating the phrase, in Italian, ‘I am Giorgia Meloni’”. AP reported the same recording and that the filing was first reported by La Repubblica. The phrase echoes a 2019 rally speech, later remixed as a dance track, and the title of her 2021 autobiography.
L'Unione Sarda, citing ANSA and the EUIPO site, reported that the application was submitted through a Rome law firm and an intellectual property company in the Marche, and is linked to three kinds of services: downloadable multimedia content, cultural activities and the organisation of political demonstrations. It says the singer Giusy Ferreri had filed a similar application in recent months. EUIPO's website refused our requests, so these details are as reported.
The motive is stated. Fake images of Meloni have circulated and at times been passed off as real, including a manipulated image of her in underwear; she has a civil case pending in Italy against a man accused of creating deepfake pornographic images of her. “I can defend myself, but many others cannot,” she said in May, as AP quoted her.
AP placed the filing in a wider pattern: the actor Matthew McConaughey, it said, was one of the first major celebrities to use trademark registrations to secure rights to voice clips, and a Japanese court last week gave legal protection to a voice actor whose voice had been cloned on TikTok. We have not read those filings or that judgment.
What a sound mark is
A trade mark is a sign that tells the public which business goods or services come from. Under the EU Trade Mark Regulation, a sign can be registered if it distinguishes one business's goods or services from another's and can be represented on the register so that authorities and the public can “determine the clear and precise subject matter” of the protection.
For sounds, the Commission's implementing regulation says a sound mark “shall be represented by submitting an audio file reproducing the sound or by an accurate representation of the sound in musical notation”. That is why the application is a four-second recording. What would be registered is that recording as a sign, for the goods and services listed, not the speaker's voice in general.
An application is examined, then published, and anyone with earlier rights has three months from publication to oppose it. A registration lasts ten years from filing and can be renewed for further ten-year periods.
Months, as set in Regulation (EU) 2017/1001
Source: Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union trade mark, Articles 46, 52, 53 and 58.
The five-year non-use period is continuous; a mark used genuinely for the registered goods or services within it is not exposed on that ground.
What a registration would and would not stop
Article 9 of the Regulation sets out the owner's rights: to prevent third parties “using in the course of trade, in relation to goods or services” a sign identical or similar to the mark, where the conditions in that article are met. A business that used the registered recording, or something confusingly close to it, to sell downloadable content or cultural events would be within reach.
Most deepfakes are not that. A cloned voice in a phone call asking a finance team to move money is fraud. A fake political statement is disinformation, and may be defamation. A satirical clip may be neither trade nor confusing. None obviously involves using the sign in trade for the listed services, and a fake need not use the four registered words at all. Reuters reported that Italian media expect a registration would not by itself prevent the use of her voice in deepfakes, though it could add legal obstacles.
There is also an obligation attached. The Regulation lets anyone apply to revoke a mark that has not been put to genuine use in the EU, for the goods or services registered, within a continuous period of five years. A sign registered purely as a defensive measure, and never used to offer those services, is exposed to that.
This section is our reading of the Regulation's text, not legal advice, and EUIPO has not yet ruled on the application.
What an executive can do about voice cloning
What follows is our reading.
Do not expect a trade mark to do a fraud team's job. The damaging uses of a cloned executive voice are calls and voice notes that ask staff, banks or partners to act. Those are stopped by procedure: call-backs on known numbers, two-person approval for payments, and a rule that no executive requests transfers by messaging app. Our report on the €95 million Fideuram fraud walks through one case.
Use the platforms' impersonation routes. Fake endorsements and scam advertisements using an executive's face or voice are handled through platform impersonation reports and, increasingly, regulators; see whether a platform can be liable for a scam ad impersonating you.
Keep the authentic record easy to find. The best answer to a fake statement is a place where the real ones live: a company newsroom, verified profiles and a consistent public record that journalists and search engines treat as authoritative. That is the same work described in owning page one when someone searches your name.
Consider a mark only for a real commercial sign. A company that genuinely uses a sound, such as a sonic logo or a host's signature opening line in a commercial podcast, may have reason to register it. That protects the brand in trade, which is what trade marks are for.
Methodology and limitations
This report is based on Reuters's and AP's reports of 5 October 2026, read through MSN's syndicated copies, and L'Unione Sarda's English-language report of the same day, which cites ANSA and the EUIPO website. We tried to read the EUIPO application record and EUIPO's guidance pages directly; both returned access-denied responses, so the filing date, recording, filer and services listed are as those outlets reported them. For the law we read Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union trade mark, Articles 4, 9, 46, 52 and 58, and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/626, Article 3(3), on EUR-Lex. All read on 5 October 2026. Three limitations apply. The application has not been examined, published or opposed, and may change or be refused. National laws on personality and image rights, which may give stronger protection against impersonation in some EU countries, are not examined here. And our reading of how Article 9 applies to deepfakes is an interpretation, not legal advice; AP's references to other celebrities and to a Japanese ruling are reported as AP gave them.
Conclusion
Meloni's application shows how far public figures are reaching for tools against voice cloning, and how poorly trade mark law fits the problem. An EU sound mark protects a specific recording as a sign of commercial origin, for listed goods and services, against use in trade; it must be genuinely used or it can be revoked. A cloned voice in a fraud call, a fake political statement or a parody is mostly outside that. For an executive whose voice is public through podcasts and video, the effective defences are internal verification procedures, platform impersonation reporting and a strong authentic record, with a trade mark reserved for a sound the company really uses in trade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Giorgia Meloni trademarked her voice?
She has applied, not registered. Reuters and AP reported on 5 October 2026 that her application to the EU Intellectual Property Office, dated 5 October, includes a four-second recording of her saying “I am Giorgia Meloni” twice. It is under examination.
Can you trademark a voice in the EU?
You can apply to register a sound as a trade mark by filing an audio file, provided it distinguishes goods or services and can be clearly represented. What is registered is that recording as a sign for listed goods and services, not a person's voice in general.
Would a voice trademark stop deepfakes?
Not on its own. An EU trade mark lets the owner stop use of the sign in the course of trade for goods or services. Most deepfakes, such as fraud calls, political fakes and parodies, are not that kind of use, and Italian media reported a registration would not by itself prevent them.
Does a trademark have to be used?
Yes. Under the EU Trade Mark Regulation, a registration can be revoked if the mark is not put to genuine use for the registered goods or services within a continuous five-year period.
What should an executive do about voice cloning?
Rely mainly on procedure: verify unusual requests by calling back on known numbers, require two-person approval for payments, and tell staff executives never request transfers by messaging app. Report impersonation to platforms, and keep an authentic public record easy to find.
Could a company register a sound it uses commercially?
Yes. A sonic logo or a signature line used in a commercial podcast or advertising is the kind of sign trade mark law is designed to protect, provided it distinguishes the company's goods or services.
Sources
- press Reuters, Italy PM Meloni seeks EU trademark for her voice amid AI deepfake risks, 5 October 2026, read via MSN syndication. Read 5 October 2026.
- press Associated Press, Italy’s Meloni follows pop stars in seeking to trademark her voice to combat AI deepfakes, 5 October 2026, read via MSN syndication. Read 5 October 2026.
- press L'Unione Sarda, “I am Giorgia Meloni”: the Prime Minister records her voice at the trademark office against fakes, 5 October 2026, citing ANSA and the EUIPO website. Read 5 October 2026.
- official Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union trade mark, Articles 4, 9, 46, 52 and 58. Read 5 October 2026.
- official Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/626, Article 3(3), representation of sound marks. Read 5 October 2026.
- blocked source European Union Intellectual Property Office, application record and trade mark guidance pages. Requests returned access denied on 5 October 2026; details of the application are as reported by the outlets above.
- official Regulation (EU) 2017/1001, original version as adopted by the EU, via legislation.gov.uk, Articles 46, 52, 53 and 58. Used to check the time limits charted because EUR-Lex did not serve the text on 10 October 2026. Read October 10, 2026.