Federal Judge Tosses Second Copyright Suit Against Taylor Swift, Calls Claims Unprotectable

Federal judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the second copyright lawsuit filed by self-published Florida poet Kimberly Marasco against Taylor Swift, ruling on Monday, July 6, 2026. Marasco alleged Swift lifted language and ideas from her poetry for use across more than a dozen songs on Evermore, Folklore, Midnights, Lover, and The Tortured Poets Department. Cannon found that the only overlap between the two bodies of work was a vague shared interest in "gaslighting" as a theme, along with "universal metaphors" and "common observations" — neither of which qualifies for copyright protection.

How the case unfolded

Marasco first sued Taylor Swift Productions in 2024, claiming Swift borrowed phrasing from her poems for songs including "The Man," "My Tears Ricochet," and "Illicit Affairs." That first suit was dismissed in September of the same year, with the court ruling the language in question was too "commonplace" to be protected. Swift's attorney, Douglas Baldridge, called the case "absurd and legally baseless" at the time.

The second lawsuit renewed the plagiarism claims, this time targeting songs including "The Manuscript" and "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart." In her July 6 ruling, Judge Cannon — as reported by Billboard — wrote that the disputed material amounted to "garden-variety themes, concepts, and isolated words — precisely the kind of material copyright law does not protect." The words and phrases cited in the complaint included "it's time to go," "fire," "rain," "sky," "tears," "running," and "love," alongside a general theme of "creative resilience" — all deemed too generic to support a copyright claim.

Cannon also declined to give Marasco the opportunity to amend and refile her complaint, stating that "the defects are not a matter of pleading, but of the underlying material itself — no amendment could transform these ideas, themes, metaphors, and isolated words into protectable expression." Marasco has said she plans to appeal. As of publication, Taylor Swift's camp has not publicly responded to the ruling.

Meanwhile

Just days before the ruling, on Friday, July 3, 2026, Swift married Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in New York. Guests reportedly included Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Jack Antonoff, the Haim sisters, Ellie Goulding, Camila Cabello, Lucy Dacus, and Benson Boone, with performances by Paul McCartney and Stevie Nicks, according to NME.