Photo Credit: Marcos Paulo Prado
The poet whose case against Taylor Swift was just dismissed by a federal judge has already filed an appeal—following her similar defeat against Swift last year.
Earlier this week, in addition to getting married, Taylor Swift just beat a poetry copyright lawsuit brought against her by poet Kimberly Marasco. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice—but Marasco has already filed an appeal.
If nothing else, it illustrates the writer’s tenacity; she suffered an earlier legal defeat against Swift last year. Of course, the dismissal “with prejudice” means that if Marasco’s appeal doesn’t go anywhere, she will be barred from filing suit again.
The Swift songs at issue include “Guilty as Sin?,” which allegedly borrowed from Marasco’s “Devious Minds” poem, and Swift’s “My Tears Ricochet,” which Marasco claims pulled elements from her works “Scorpion,” “Beams of Light,” “Gaslight,” and “Innocence Lost.”
Marasco’s second amended complaint argued that the “striking” similarities between her poems and Swift’s lyrics are “so specific, unique, and improbable that independent creation is unlikely, supporting the inference of access.”
But Judge Aileen M. Cannon ultimately agreed with Swift’s legal team’s assessment that the allegedly infringing lyrics contained unprotectable elements—basic building blocks of the creation process. Judge Cannon wrote in her dismissal order that the “quintessential themes, concepts, and isolated words” at issue are “exactly the kind of material copyright law does not protect.”
“Plaintiff’s claims fail at the extrinsic step for the very reasons discussed above: once the unprotectable elements are filtered out, nothing remains to compare,” wrote Judge Cannon, adding that “further amendment would be futile.”
And yet, Marasco remains undeterred, with newly filed legal documents outlining her plans to appeal the court’s decision. However, copyright suits of this nature often don’t go anywhere. The court system is well aware that certain elements across the creative spectrum are simply unprotectable by copyright law, as they remain intrinsically linked to the creation process. This includes many plot elements and literary devices prevalent across both film and song.
