On August 23, 2022, Author Teresa La Dart filed an action against Taylor Swift for copyright infringement in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
On January 12, 2010, La Dart’s book, “Lover,” was released nationwide. “Lover” is a collection of self-reflective poems inspired by personal experiences. La Dart’s life was drastically altered by losing her father, who she idolized, at the age of 18. As she grew older, she realized that she was surrounded by loved ones, such as her mother and her canine companion, named “Lover.” The book uses pastel tones and contains individual poems on each page about love and self-love. There are also various images of the author throughout the book, along with pictures of her dog “Lover,” with notes to the reader.
In 2019, Taylor Swift released her album entitled “Lover,” with an accompanying book by the same name. Swift’s album has been astronomically popular, with sales of more than 2.9 million copies in the United States and 4 million copies worldwide. Book titles are not copyrightable subject matter, so Swift was free to name her album “Lover.” La Dart, however, claims that the similarities between the two books go far beyond the title.
La Dart claims that Swift infringed on her copyright in the expressive designs and arrangement of her “Lover” book. La Dart contends that several aspects of her book, including the color palette, the cover format (both front covers feature photos of the authors with their eyes downcast, and both back covers feature the authors looking upward), the introduction page, and the imagery, were copied in Swift’s book. She further contends that the creative elements found in both books were unique to her book.
La Dart is represented by William S. Parks of William S. Parks PLLC.
Counsel information for Swift was not yet available, but most likely it will be Peter J. Anderson of Davis, Wright, & Tremaine LLP.
The case is La Dart v. Swift et al., case number 2:22-cv-02552, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
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