A lawsuit accusing Taylor Swift, the pop megastar who recently got married, of plagiarizing phrases from a Florida woman’s poems for over a dozen songs was dismissed by a U.S. federal judge on Monday. The judge, Aileen Cannon, ruled that the plaintiff, Kimberly Marasco, did not demonstrate that her poems were protectable expressions or that Swift had access to them and that an average person would find the songs to be substantially similar.
Marasco, who represented herself, expressed disagreement with the decision and plans to appeal. Lawyers for Swift and the other defendants, such as Republic Records and Universal Music Group, did not provide immediate comments on the matter.
The allegations claimed Swift copied details from Marasco’s poetry books for songs like “Down Bad” and “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart” from Swift’s 2024 album “The Tortured Poets Department.” However, the judge concluded that any similarities were limited to unprotectable ideas, themes, metaphors, and isolated words.
The judge cited examples like facing adversity, being “gaslighted,” and being “submerged” under water. This dismissal marked the end of an earlier version of Marasco’s lawsuit from last September. The judge highlighted that the new allegations did not show substantial similarity and were characterized as “paraphrase,” “rephrase,” or copying with minor word substitutions.
The dismissal was with prejudice, barring Marasco from amending her complaint. Taylor Swift, 36, tied the knot with Travis Kelce, also 36, the star football player, at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan on July 3 in a secretive ceremony.