Robert Botkin, Traci Bransford, Shayla Wright, Eva Frongello, and Caroline McCracken wrote an article on Matthew McConaughey securing trademarks "in a novel legal strategy aimed at combating AI’s unauthorized use of his voice and likeness."

"The move signals an important evolution in the power dynamics between talent/brands and the companies providing generative AI tools," they wrote for Law.com and The Intellectual Property Strategist newsletter. "More broadly, the McConaughey filings preview where identity protection is heading as AI makes imitation cheap, scalable, and increasingly difficult to police through any single doctrine."

"For talent and entertainment clients, this is a reminder that traditional right-of-publicity protections may need reinforcement in a world where misuse occurs outside familiar 'commercial use' fact patterns," they continued. "For brand owners, it signals that managing authenticity and endorsement risk will increasingly depend on concrete, enforceable rights rather than relying mainly on reputational harm arguments. And for platforms and AI developers, it is an early indicator that trademark law may be one of the next major battlegrounds for synthetic voice and likeness disputes, especially where consumer confusion, implied sponsorship, or source association can be plausibly alleged."

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