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A Fort Pierce woman alleges Taylor Swift has stolen lyrics songs using poems from two of her books as well as choreography.
Kimberly Marasco filed her pro se complaint against Taylor Swift Productions Inc. in state court, but it was removed to federal court by the defendant company.
In her original complaint, Marasco asserts a claim for copyright infringement, saying certain lyrics, songs and more from Swift’s Eras Tour infringe upon poems from two of Marasco’s books and one of her choreographed dances.
“I recently discovered that Ms. Swift had strikingly similar lyrics, themes, images included on her Eras Tour, including a dance routine I choreographed using a chair,” Marasco wrote in her complaint. “Ms. Swift did not receive permission, nor has she provided any mention, compensation or attribution to use my creative works.”
In removing the case to federal court, Swift’s production company denies the allegations and seeks to have the case dismissed.
In her original complaint, Marasco says her book “Fallen from Grace” was submitted to hundreds of literary agencies before being sent to Outskirts Press, then to Ukiyoto Publishers and on Amazon KDP for public mass distribution in 2017. She says she owns the valid copyright to the work with an exclusive license to copyright rights.
She claims Swift accessed her work, used one of the exclusive rights without permission and that her Swift’s work “is substantially similar to the original elements of expression of the original work.”
Marasco claims Swift used “line reversal” to “try to hide the infringement” in some of her songs. Marasco cites her poem “Ordinary Citizen” and Swift’s song “The Man.”
“I’m running as fast as I can / wonder if I would get there faster if I was a man,” Swift wrote in her lyrics. “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can / Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man.”
“I’m running behind / You say it’s His word against mine,” Marasco’s poem reads, adding the poem also using an original metaphor to express that “no matter how hard she works, her efforts are futile in relation to that of a man” and describes Marasco’s experience working in a corporate environment where she “cannot get ahead no matter how much work she puts in.”
Marasco also cites her 2017 poem called “Scorpion” and compares it to Swift’s 2020 song “Tears Ricochet.”
“I described the death of someone close to me while still talking to her while continuing to deal with the aftermath of her loss,” Marasco states. “This entire idea is unique and creatively written. However, Swift took the same exact idea and used it in her song.”
Swift’s lyrics include the line, “And I still talk to you when I’m screaming at the sky,” while Marasco’s poem includes the phrase “I can hear her laughter echoing to us from above, yelling to us below: this is nothing but a shit show.”
Marasco points out what she sees as similarities between her poems and other Swift songs, including “Midnight Rain,” “Invisible String,” “Willow,” “Illicit Affairs,” “Hoax,” “Right Where You Left Me,” “It’s Time To Go” and “When Will You Let Me Go.”
Marasco says she has filed her books with the copyright office and has a certification of registration.
Taylor Swift Productions is being represented by Aaron S. Blynn and Katherine Wright Morrone of Venable LLP.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida case number 2:24-cv-14153