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Judge Tosses Taylor Swift Song Copyright Case
6 Jul
Summary
- Federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Taylor Swift of song plagiarism.
- Plaintiff failed to show protectable expression or substantial similarity.
- Swift's songs were accused of copying phrases from plaintiff's poems.
A federal judge in Florida dismissed a lawsuit on July 6, 2026, alleging that pop superstar Taylor Swift plagiarized phrases from poems for multiple songs. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that the plaintiff, Kimberly Marasco, failed to prove her poems constituted protectable expression or that Swift's songs were substantially similar.
The lawsuit claimed Swift copied details from Marasco's poetry books for songs like "Down Bad" and "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart." The judge stated that any similarities between the poems and Swift's music involved unprotectable ideas, themes, metaphors, and isolated words.
This is not the first time Marasco's claims have been dismissed; an earlier version of the lawsuit was thrown out last September. The judge noted that the plaintiff effectively conceded the lack of similarity by describing the alleged copying as paraphrases or minor word substitutions. The dismissal was with prejudice, preventing Marasco from refiling the complaint.
