Giorgia Meloni registers sound trademark for her voice at EUIPO to combat artificial intelligence deepfakes

Trademark filing at the European intellectual property office

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni submitted a formal application to register her voice as a sound trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on 5 October 2026. The application consists of a four-second audio recording in which Meloni repeats the Italian phrase "Io sono Giorgia Meloni" twice. According to public records on the EUIPO database, the application is currently under formal examination by European trademark examiners. The filing seeks to establish registered legal protection over her specific vocal timbre, tone, and inflection to prevent unauthorized duplication and deepfake generation by generative artificial intelligence software. Italian singer Giusy Ferreri previously completed a similar vocal trademark registration with the intellectual property agency in recent months to safeguard her vocal identity.

Legal structure and service classifications

The administrative filing was handled by the Rome law firm Mpmlegal in coordination with Praxi Intellectual Property S.p.A., an intellectual property consultancy based on Via Leonida Bissolati in Rome, alongside a specialized intellectual property firm from the Marche region. The application links the sound mark to three specific service categories under European classification rules. These classes encompass downloadable multimedia content, cultural activities, and the organization of political events. While trademark law traditionally protects commercial trade identifiers, the application adapts existing property statutes to create an additional legal barrier against synthetic audio falsification alongside statutory protections for personal identity, image, and reputation.

Artificial intelligence risks in political campaigning

Palazzo Chigi confirmed the submission on 5 October 2026. The move addresses the technical capabilities of generative artificial intelligence systems, which can clone an individual's vocal characteristics from brief sound samples and generate realistic statements the person never made. The phrase in the recording originates from Meloni's 2019 speech at a political rally in Piazza San Giovanni in Rome, which became a widely recognized catchphrase and online meme identifying her public persona. The protective filing takes place ahead of Italian parliamentary election campaigning, with voting expected between the second half of May and September. Italian political discussions have focused on artificial intelligence and social media usage by figures such as Roberto Vannacci, alongside broader concerns regarding hybrid disinformation campaigns in European elections.

Prior deepfake incidents and legal scope

The trademark filing follows previous warnings from Meloni regarding the misuse of synthetic media. In May 2026, Meloni publicly raised concerns about artificial intelligence manipulation after several fabricated images circulated across social networks, including a generated picture that placed her face onto a woman in underwear. European Union examiners will evaluate whether the deposited four-second audio recording meets legal distinctiveness requirements for registered sound marks. An approved registration will not automatically convert every vocal imitation into an intellectual property violation. Instead, the final legal scope will depend on the outcome of the EUIPO review and the specific enforcement mechanisms applied against fraudulent political disinformation.