Matthew McConaughey has taken steps to trademark some of his well-known catchphrases for a somewhat unconventional purpose.
The actor, celebrated for his roles in films like Interstellar and Magic Mike, is famous for delivering memorable lines with his distinct Texas drawl.
One of his most iconic lines comes from the 1993 film Dazed and Confused. The movie is a comedy centered around a group of students navigating the last day of high school and the rites of passage that accompany it.
In the film, McConaughey delivers the line: “alright, alright, alright!” which has since gained widespread recognition beyond its original context.
This line, along with others, is now being trademarked by McConaughey’s legal team due to recent developments that necessitate this action.
This effort extends to the particular way the Dallas Buyers Club actor articulated the phrase.
What has prompted this move to trademark his phrases?
If you suspected the rise of AI, you guessed correctly.
Many artists, spanning actors, musicians, photographers, filmmakers, and visual creators, are increasingly worried about the impact of generative AI.
Although some advocate for its revolutionary potential, generative AI doesn’t produce original content in the traditional artistic sense.
It uses databases of existing works to fulfill user requests, such as creating an image of ‘Mona Lisa in the style of Picasso’, or similar prompts.
To combat the use of his catchphrases by generative AI, McConaughey has sought to trademark them. This includes the phrase ‘alright, alright, alright’ and several audio clips featuring his voice.
Among these are a 7-second clip of McConaughey on a porch, a three-second clip with a Christmas tree, and an audio recording where he says, ‘just keep livin’, right?’ followed by pauses and the phrases ‘I mean’ and ‘what are we gonna do?’
The official trademark description states: “The mark consists of a man saying ‘ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT’, wherein the first syllable of the first two words is at a lower pitch than the second syllable, and the first syllable of the last word is at a higher pitch than the second syllable.”
McConaughey’s legal representatives filed for this trademark in December 2023, and it received approval from the USPTO last December.
Jonathan Pollack, an attorney at Yorn Levine, noted: “In a world where we’re watching everybody scramble to figure out what to do about AI misuse, we have a tool now to stop someone in their tracks or take them to federal court.”
Kevin Yorn, co-founder and partner at Yorn-Levine, added: “I don’t know what a court will say in the end. But we have to at least test this.”