Taylor Swift sued for $1 million by Memphis-area poet for copyright infringement

Taylor Swift, the eleven-time Grammy award winning singer, is being sued by a Memphis-area poet for at least $1 million copyright infringement lawsuit.

In 2010, poet Teresa La Dart published and copyrighted a book of poems titled "Lover." Nine years later, Swift released an album titled "Lover," which had a book release alongside it by the same title. The album and book released three years ago Tuesday, the same date the lawsuit was filed.

The timing of the filing came as a last-minute effort, as the statute of limitations on copyright infringement is three years after the release of the work. Since Swift's album and book released Aug. 23, 2019, Tuesday was the final day to file.

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"This is something we had to file for the last day it was available, so that's why we did it. The client is a very, very sweet lady and this is the last thing she wanted to get involved in, but she felt she had to," said William Parks, the attorney representing La Dart. "This is a formidable person to go up against by all means, and it's not something we took lightly."

La Dart, a resident of DeSoto County, Mississippi, filed suit in federal court in Memphis.

In her lawsuit, La Dart claims that the two books have similar styles, citing similarities in color scheme, poses within pictures that are in the books, along with similar themes in the writing itself. The lawsuit also, repeatedly, mentions the fact that both books have the same title.

"The Swift and [Taylor Swift Productions, Inc.] 'Lover' book as released and published by Swift and TSP and claiming all creative credits for Swift, as well, includes...substantially the same format of a recollection of past years memorialized in a combination of written and pictorial components within a book, with a substantially similar cover format, with the author photographed in a downward pose, and a color scheme (pastel pinks and blues) with the same title (again, 'Lover"), iii) with substantially the same introduction page with a similarly styled 'Lover' title," the lawsuit reads,

Although bearing a resemblance, the two works also carry striking differences. The font used by Swift on the cover of her book is different from the La Dart book, and, even though the inside title pages both use similar fonts, they are not the exact same.

In photos uploaded as exhibits to support her case, La Dart included what appears to be the cover of both books, the inside title pages, the forward or introduction to the books, and the rear covers.

The scans of La Dart's book includes three images, two of which include her holding a dog, the other showing her outside by a tree. Swift's images, that were also included, show the singer with a glittering heart around her eye on the front and back covers, with the other showing her in a field.

The lawsuit and closes by asserting the DeSotoCounty resident has and continues to suffer as a result of the "exploitation of the work domestically and internationally." The price tag for those damages, as Swift's book sold at least 2.9 million copies domestically according to the filing, is at least $1 million.

This is not the only copyright case Swift has faced in her career, with a case accusing her of copying lyrics to her 2015 Grammy-nominated song "Shake it Off" from a group named 3WL's 2001 song "Playas Gon' Play." In early August, Swift denied those claims, saying she has never heard of the group nor heard the song mentioned in the suit.

Swift's album "Lover" earned her a Grammy nomination in 2020 for Best Pop Vocal Album, and the song by the same name was nominated for Song of the Year. Neither nomination ended up winning, though.

A spokesman for Swift, whose company Taylor Swift Productions Inc., is based in Nashville, did not return messages from The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Taylor Swift sued by Memphis-area poet for copyright infringement