Italy’s Meloni applies to trademark her voice to fight AI clones

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has filed an application with the EU’s intellectual property office to register her voice as a sound trademark, aiming to protect it from AI-generated cloning.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has applied to register her voice as a trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in a bid to combat AI-generated clones, Italian media reported Monday.

For the application, Meloni recorded herself saying “Io sono Giorgia Meloni” (“I am Giorgia Meloni”) twice. The filing, dated Oct. 5, 2026, can be viewed on EUIPO’s website and is currently listed as “under examination.”

Meloni speaking at a summit in Rome (September 2025, archive)

Protecting timbre and intonation

Giorgia Meloni (archive)

The application aims to protect the timbre and intonation of her voice from artificial intelligence cloning. A trademark would not stop deepfakes on its own, but it can be used to block the commercial or deceptive use of a registered timbre and to request the removal of infringing material.

Italian pop star Giusy Ferreri applied to have her voice registered some months ago.