WASHINGTON — Rep. Justin Amash and pop star Taylor Swift may not quite have bad blood just yet, but efforts by the musician to trademark certain common words, phrases and dates might have him seeing red.
The Michigan Republican’s sour note followed reports that Taylor Swift’s rights-management company has filed for trademark requests on use of — among other words — the number “1989,” which is the year of her birth and the name of her fifth studio release.
Amash responded to a Washington Post story asking, “For Taylor Swift’s birthday, should she get to trademark her birth year?”
“No,” Amash tweeted.
Swift, who has a hyper vigilant reputation when it comes to legally protecting her music, celebrated her 26th birthday Sunday and wrapped up her “1989” world tour a day prior.
Fans of Swift were not pleased of Amash’s critical tune, tweeting “hater” to Amash and others quoting lyrics from Swift’s “Shake it Off.”
“Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate,” one tweeted.
While another asked Amash to “shake it off.”
Amash playfully responded “Whoa. That phrase is probably trademarked. Careful what you tweet,” mocking Swift, who has already copyrighted phrases like “Party like it’s 1989” and “This Sick Beat.”
Amash previously opposed the “Stop Online Piracy Act” — a proposed bill that aims to crack down on copyright infringement by restricting access to sites that host or facilitate the trading of pirated content. A vote on the legislation was indefinitely postponed in 2013 after protests.