Taylor Swift is one of the biggest, most popular singers at the moment. With a career spanning over a decade, her career is doing better than ever. With the Eras Tour, Swift is making more than $13 million a night in ticket sales alone, no wonder she’s expected to deliver the highest-grossing tour in music history!
Over the years, Taylor Swift has been the subject of many controversies. For instance, in 2019, she had a public feud with her then-manager Scooter Braun, and last summer, she was called out for her excessive private jet usage. Most recently, the singer was sued by a Mississippi author claiming that the singer had stole details of a 2010 poetry book and used them for her Lover book.
Taylor Swift Has Been Accused Of Plagiarism Several Times In The Past
Way before the “Lover” book debacle, Taylor Swift was sued for plagiarizing the lyrics of one of her most iconic songs. In 2017, a pair of songwriters who penned 3LW's "Playas Gon' Play," filed a lawsuit against Swift, claiming that her 2013 single “Shake It Off” copied the lyrics of their 2001 song, which featured the lines "playas, they gonna play" and "haters, they gonna hate."
Swift had to face a jury trial despite her requests to dismiss the case. “The lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me,” the “Bad Blood” singer stated. “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song ‘Playas Gon’ Play and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW’. The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made.”
Ultimately, the ‘Shake It Off’ copyright lawsuit was dropped on December 2022.
In 2020, small business owner Amira Rasool accused Swift of copying her business’ logo for the merchandise associated with her album Folklore. "I am not going to let this blatant theft go unchecked," Rasool claimed on social media.
"Yesterday, we were made aware of a complaint that the specific use of the word 'the' before 'folklore album' on some of the folklore album merchandise was of concern," a statement from Swift’s reps stated. "In good faith, we honored her request and immediately notified everyone who had ordered merchandise with the word 'the' preceding 'folklore album' that they will now receive their order with the design change."
Ultimately, Rasool applauded the singer’s team for their quick response claiming, “I recognize that she has been a strong advocate for women protecting their creative rights, so it was good to see her team is on the same page."
A Little-Known Author Accused Taylor Swift Of Stealing The Lover Book Design
Last summer, a Mississippi poet and author named Teresa La Dart filed a copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift. The author claimed that the singer had stolen design details from her 2010 poetry book, titled Lover, and had used them for the book accompanying Swift’s album of the same name. Since Swift’s book infringed La Dart’s copyrights, the author’s lawyers were claiming an “excess of one million dollars” in damages.
The alleged similarities between La Dart’s and Swift’s books include covers that feature “pastel pinks and blues,” as well as an image of the author “photographed in a downward pose.” La Dart also claims Swift copied her book’s “format,” both being “a recollection of past years memorialized in a combination of written and pictorial components.” Swift’s book consisted of a total of 120 pages with personal diary entries and photos.
In their response, Swift’s lawyers said those elements were nothing more than commonplace features that could be found in almost any book, so they weren’t unique enough to qualify for copyright protection. “These allegedly-infringing elements, each a generic design format, are not subject to copyright protection. Thus, defendants could not possibly have infringed the plaintiff’s copyright.”
While the titles of Swift’s book and La Dart’s book are identical, this seems to be the only concrete similarity between their books. But this is not enough to win a copyright case, as copyright law typically doesn’t protect titles. In fact, the U.S. Copyright Office records indicate that there are currently more than a dozen other books with the same title.
The Copyright Lawsuit Against Taylor Swift’s Lover Book Was Dropped
Last month, Teresa La Dar dropped her copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift, claiming that the singer had stolen ideas from her 2010 poetry book for her “Lover” album companion book. Swift’s lawyers said that the case was “legally and factually baseless” and “never should have been filed” in the first place.
Swift’s lawyers had filed a motion to dismiss the case when La Dart suddenly dropped the case. The dismissal of the lawsuit was completely voluntary and unilateral on La Dar’s part. Faced with strong counterarguments from Swift’s lawyers, it made sense for La Dar to take this course of action. If she had chosen to continue the litigations, chances are she would have lost the case, even having to repay the singer’s legal fees, which could have cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
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