A poet is suing Taylor Swift for more than $1 million for copyright infringement over the Lover book design, claiming that it steals the overall look and feel of her original poetry collection from 2010.
Tennessee poet, Teresa La Dart has filed a lawsuit in Memphis this week against Taylor Swift. La Dart’s claim is seeking a rather hefty sum in damages, claiming that the book cover to Swift’s Lover album has copied the design and arrangement from La Dart’s self-published 2010 poetry collection, which incidentally is also called Lover.
Alongside the “number of creative elements” from her self-published collection of poems, the poet also cites Taylor Swift copied a “recollection of past years memorialized in a combination of written and pictorial components.” La Dart’s lawyer claims Swift owes her in “excess of one million dollars” in damages as a result.
Taylor Swift’s team has yet to respond to the filing, but Pitchfork has shared La Dart’s lawyer’s statement: “It has been a bizarre day as this was filed less than 24 hours ago. Glad to provide some insight as many commentators seem to think this was poorly undertaken. Initially, it is important to note Miss La Dart feels strongly that her full work needs to be compared with that of Miss Swift’s before a conclusion is made here.”
The lawyer continues: “Secondly, this decision was not made nor taken lightly considering the other side is quite formidable. Lastly, this was a recent consideration and this filing was made ostensibly to reserve Miss La Dart’s rights (primarily at this point) since yesterday was the date the statute of limitations closed. Hope the masses can understand these issues from her perspective, in other words.”
Taylor Swift flipped through an old poetry book and decided to hijack the vibe and design for her own offering nearly a decade later — at least according to a new lawsuit. https://t.co/1P5w4OWA6s
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 24, 2022
🚨🚨BREAKING NEWS: Traffic Lights 🚦 have filled a lawsuit against Taylor Swift
Seeking 13 million for emotional damage
The lawsuit says Taylor kept asking them if it’ll be alright and they repeatedly said I don’t know. pic.twitter.com/9QQyoKgsUK
— Ashley 💋 (@Next_Chaper13) August 26, 2022
