A Mississippi author has decided not to pursue her copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift.
Teresa La Dart, a poet and author from Mississippi, had sued the singer last year, claiming that Swift had copied “several creative elements” from her poetry book, Lover, and used them in the booklet for her 2019 album of the same name.
La Dart’s lawyer had demanded more than one million dollars in damages from Swift.
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However, in a recent development, La Dart’s lawyer filed a motion in a Tennessee federal court, stating that she will permanently drop the case. The decision was reported by Billboard and appears to have been made without any settlement being reached.
Swift’s legal team had strongly refuted the lawsuit’s claims, calling them “legally and factually baseless” and arguing that the alleged elements were not eligible for copyright protection.
In a previous statement, Swift’s lawyer, Doug Baldridge, explained that the elements in question were of a generic design format and therefore not protected by copyright law. As such, he contended that the defendants (Swift and her team) could not have infringed upon La Dart’s copyright.
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Throughout the legal process, Swift has not made any public comments about the case, maintaining her silence since the lawsuit was filed in August 2022.
In La Dart’s initial lawsuit, she alleged that Taylor Swift’s album booklet bore similarities to her poetry book, “Lover,” published in 2010. She claimed that Swift took several creative elements from her work without permission and used them for the booklet that accompanied Swift’s 2019 album of the same name.
The lawsuit sought compensation of more than one million dollars, holding Swift responsible for infringing on her copyright.
However, the legal battle came to an unexpected end when La Dart’s attorney filed a motion in a Tennessee federal court, announcing that they were voluntarily dropping the case. The dismissal reportedly did not involve any settlement between the parties.
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Swift’s legal team strongly refuted the copyright infringement claims, arguing that the alleged elements in question were generic design formats that did not qualify for copyright protection. They insisted that the lawsuit lacked a legal basis and should never have been brought to court in the first place.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Taylor Swift remained tight-lipped, refraining from any public comments on the matter since the lawsuit was filed in August 2022.
With the copyright lawsuit now withdrawn, the legal dispute between Teresa La Dart and Taylor Swift has reached its conclusion, leaving Swift free from any further legal obligations regarding her “Lover” album booklet.
