Florida artist sued Taylor Swift for $7m in damages after Eras Tour outing; here's what happened

A Florida woman sued Taylor Swift and her production company last year, alleging copyright infringement. Lawyers have since filed a motion to dismiss the suit.

Kimberly Marasco, a Florida artist, is coming down hard on Taylor Swift and her production company, according to a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in April 2024. The woman, demanding more than $7 million in damages, levelled heavy accusations against the mega pop star, alleging that “creative elements” in her songs and music videos copied her work without authorisation or credit, Newsweek reported.

Florida artist Kimberly Marasco has sued Taylor Swift and her production company for copyright infringement. (Photo: Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

However, for the time being, Judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the “Anti-Hero” hit-maker from the legal filing without prejudice. This development followed last month after the Florida woman couldn’t serve the suit in a timely manner. This doesn’t, however, mean that Taylor is in the clear. The allegations against the production company, Taylor Swift Swift Productions, are still standing, and the ruling permits Marasco to file the lawsuit again in the future.

Taylor Swift's lawyers filed to dismiss the copyright infringement lawsuit

As their counter-move, lawyers backing Swift’s banner filed a motion to dismiss the suit on January 21. They say that more than 50% of the claims in Marasco’s official filing are “time-barred” under the law. Even if the case is ultimately dismissed and Taylor Swift Production is let off the hook, she has no intentions to let it slide and will appeal or refile it. She has also suggested that all parties involved convene to reach a resolution.

Attorneys Aaron S Blynn and Katherine Wright Morrone’s motion to dismiss stated that Kimberly Marasco’s claims “remain entirely unfounded, and her ‘final opportunity’ to state a claim fails.”

Consequently, the plaintiff issued her response, saying that she may “not be a well-known nation author, but she created works that were unique, not borrowed from anywhere else, and went to lengths to ensure they would be protected in hopes she would be afforded the same protection as everyone else, no matter how known or unknown they are.”

Copyright infringement protocols

The claims Kimberly is going after “must be filed within three years of the plaintiff’s learning of the alleged infringement,” notes Newsweek. Marasco’s complaint was filed in April 2024. The attorneys repping Swift’s production company said that per the official timeline, Kimberly could only legally pursue the claims she became aware of after April 2021. However, her suit name-drops albums like “Lover,” “Folklore” and “Evermore” – all came out before 2021.

Plaintiff doesn't back down

Marasco filed another response on Friday to back her claims, contending that she didn’t own any Taylor Swift albums because she “only listened to alternative rock.”

She wrote, “Just because Taylor Swift is a very [well-known] singer, doesn't mean that the Plaintiff was aware of the specific lyrics she sang as soon as she produced her albums.”

Florida artist filed her complaint after watching Eras Tour

Marasco also argued that she only began digging deeper into the alleged similarities between her work and the global pop star’s oeuvre after watching Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour in 2024. Only after discovering the “infringement” did the plaintiff turn to the acclaimed singer’s albums “to check other songs since there were so many found.”

Hitting back at her response, Blynn and Wright Morrone said that she should have been aware of the claims because Taylor’s albums were “covered by news and media outlets.” They also argued that these music pieces “are widely available on streaming platforms, and 'have been exceedingly popular both domestically and abroad.”