Judge dismisses poet's plagiarism lawsuit against Taylor Swift

A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed 14 months ago by Florida poet Kimberly Marasco, who accused Taylor Swift of copying phrases from her poems for more than a dozen songs.

The poet claimed Swift used details from her poetry books in songs including ‘Down Bad’ and ‘I Can Do It with a Broken Heart,’ from the 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department.

Judge Aileen Cannon, who has ruled in favor of defendants like Republic Records, Universal Music Group and Aaron Dessner in cases in the past, ruled against Marasco. She said the similarities identified by the poet amounted only to “unprotectable ideas, themes, metaphors and isolated words.”

The judge found that Marasco had not shown that the poems contained protected expression, that Swift had access to them or that an ordinary observer would consider the works substantially similar.

The back-cover description of one of her poetry books, Poetry Revelations: About the Woke Mob, offers an example of the allegedly lifted work.

“An example of a line from her poem is, ‘With the clouds I rain, the smog consumes me’ and Taylor Swift later sang, ‘I was midnight rain.’”

The defendants called Marasco’s lawsuit “shotgun pleading,” meaning her case failed to provide fair explanation of who is being sued and for what. This is because she refers collectively to the artist, record label and parent company, while also grouping multiple songs and poems together.

An earlier version of Marasco’s lawsuit was dismissed last September. Monday’s dismissal was done with prejudice, meaning she cannot file an amended version of the complaint.

Marasco, who represented herself in the case, said she disagreed with the decision and will appeal.

The decision comes just three days after Swift's marriage to Travis Kelce.