Once again, we have Taylor Swift to thank for inspiring a blog. In the past few weeks the news has featured Ms. Swift’s decision to trademark various phrases, such as “This Sick Beat,” “Nice to Meet You. Where You Been?”, and “Cause We Never Go Out Of Style.”

A recent case out of the Southern District of New York demonstrates some of the limits to protecting and successfully litigating over a trademarked phrase. In Simone Kelly-Brown and Own Your Power Communications Inc. v. Oprah Winfrey et al, Case No. 11 cv 7875, the plaintiff owned a trademark for “Own Your Power.” Defendants (Oprah Winfrey and her empire) allegedly used the same phrase on the cover of their magazine, at a magazine-related event, on their website, on social media accounts, and on their TV show.

The plaintiff’s mark, in addition to the phrase Own Your Power, included the color light blue and scripted letters which created the word “power.”