Poet Teresa La Dart has filed a lawsuit against Taylor Swift, claiming the artist and her company stole the concept of Le Dart’s book, “Lover,” which was published in 2010, according to a report Wednesday.
La Dart alleges the pop star copied critical elements of her work for the booklet that accompanied the release of Swift’s 2019 album, also titled “Lover.” Swift’s book bears the exact same name as La Dart’s and is a “recollection of past years memorialized in a combination of written and pictorial components,” which is exactly how La Dart says her book was structured, according to TMZ.
Prior to Wednesday, when outlets began reporting on the lawsuit, the book had just one customer review on Amazon.
Taylor Swift flipped through an old poetry book and decided to hijack the vibe and design for her own offering nearly a decade later — at least according to a new lawsuit. https://t.co/1P5w4OWA6s
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 24, 2022
La Dart also emphasized that Swift’s booklet uses the exact same pastel pink and blue hues as her book, TMZ reports. The plaintiff’s legal filings indicate that the similarities span across the cover and the foreword of the book, and that those similarities constitute an infringement of her copyright. La Dart’s book and Swift’s booklet both include poems, anecdotes and photographs, which La Dart argues is too close a similarity to be a coincidence, reported the outlet. (RELATED: George Lopez Sues Pandora Over Comedy Specials)
Taylor Swift is being sued by an author who claims she copied her 2010 poetry book ‘Lover’ with her 2019 album book.
The author is asking for over $1 million as she claims the style of the photos, color scheme and content of the books are similar. pic.twitter.com/suGsNwxaHT
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 24, 2022
La Dart is seeking more than a million dollars in damages, citing the fact that Swift’s book sold at least 2.9 million copies in the U.S. alone, according to TMZ.