Taylor Swift has won a copyright lawsuit over her song lyrics, with a federal judge granting a motion to dismiss an infringement case filed by Kimberly Marasco.
Marasco, a self-published poet from Florida, had alleged Swift copied lyrics from her poems for more than a dozen songs featured on her albums Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department,
According to PEOPLE, the case was "dismissed with prejudice." According to court documents, Judge Aileen Cannon said that Marasco's poems and Swift's songs shared "basic ideas" like the concept of "gaslighting," "ubiquitous metaphors" and "common observations," which were considered generic.
"These are quintessential themes, concepts, and isolated words — exactly the kind of material copyright law does not protect," the judge wrote, per the filing. "The allegedly infringed material — basic ideas, themes, metaphors, isolated words, and short phrases — is not protected expression and cannot be infringed."
The judge refused to give the plaintiff a chance to fix and refile her suit. "Plaintiff has had ample opportunity to plead her claims; she was expressly warned that the Second Amended Complaint would be her final opportunity," the judge wrote in the filing, and added that "further amendment would be futile."
"The Court concludes that Plaintiff's poems do not contain protectable expression and that, regardless, Plaintiff has failed to plausibly plead copying," the judge wrote in the filing.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com