Taylor Swift wins copyright lawsuit as judge dismisses poet’s ‘absurd’ claims

Taylor Swift has secured another legal victory after a federal judge dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit accusing the singer-songwriter of copying lyrics from a self-published poet’s work.

In a ruling issued on Monday, July 6, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case filed by Florida-based poet Kimberly Marasco, who alleged that Swift borrowed ideas and lyrics from her poems for songs appearing on the albums Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, preventing the claims from being filed again.

According to the court’s ruling, the similarities identified by Marasco involved broad themes, common metaphors and everyday expressions that are not protected under U.S. copyright law.

Judge Cannon found that references to concepts such as gaslighting, along with recurring imagery involving tears, rain, fire, the sky and love, amounted to commonplace language rather than original creative expression.

The court also concluded that Marasco had failed to plausibly demonstrate that Swift copied any protected material. Because Marasco had already amended her complaint multiple times and previous lawsuits raising similar allegations had been rejected, the judge ruled that allowing another amendment would be futile.

The legal dispute began in 2024 when Marasco sued Taylor Swift Productions, alleging that lyrics from songs including The Man, Illicit Affairs and My Tears Ricochet infringed on her poetry.

She later expanded her claims to include tracks from The Tortured Poets Department, including I Can Do It with a Broken Heart and The Manuscript.