Lionel Richie Just Trademarked the Sound of His Own Voice. “Hello” Is One of Four Filings.

On Thursday (June 11), Lionel Richie filed four trademark applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office, each covering audio recordings of the four-time Grammy winner singing famous lyrics from his catalog: “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?” from “Hello,” along with phrases from “Say You, Say Me,” “Easy,” and “All Night Long (All Night).” The applications list RichLion Holdings, LLC as the owner and were filed on what intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben IP described as an intent-to-use basis, meaning Richie is not yet using the phrases as trademarks in commerce. Gerben, who first spotted the filings, framed their purpose directly: “Ultimately, these applications are less about protecting individual song lyrics and more about seeking new legal tools to protect celebrity voices in the AI era.”

The legal mechanics here are unusual, and Gerben’s analysis is worth understanding in full. Sounds can be registered as trademarks, with the “tu-dum” Netflix plays on app launch serving as a commonly cited example of a registered sound mark. But trademark filings built around song lyrics have historically been rare, because a lyric standing alone does not qualify for trademark protection. A sound only qualifies for registration if it functions as a “source identifier,” meaning ordinary listeners associate that specific sound with a specific product or service, the way audiences instantly recognize the NBC chimes or the Netflix startup sound as belonging to those companies and nothing else. Richie’s filings indicate the sounds will eventually be used in connection with providing music and entertainment information, videos, and news about a musical artist, which is the commercial use case his legal team will need to establish to satisfy that source-identifier standard.

Gerben was candid about the difficulty of what Richie is attempting. “Whether Richie’s applications ultimately succeed remains an open question,” he wrote. “From a technical trademark perspective, these filings will be challenging because the USPTO will expect evidence that the sounds function as trademarks rather than simply famous lyrics.” The practical hurdle is that the USPTO will want proof these audio clips operate as brand identifiers in commerce, not simply as recognizable excerpts from beloved songs. Gerben’s conclusion frames the stakes clearly: “If successful, these filings could become an important test case for how trademark law adapts to the AI era.”