Copyright case against Taylor Swift dropped, but not through an out-of-court settlement - what happened?

A legal case regarding Taylor Swift’s self-published book of poetry has been dropped by the claimant after what was regarded as a “strongly worded” rebuttal by Swift’s legal team. The book, a companion piece to her album, “Lover,” was at the centre of the legal case, but the author making the claim has since revoked her case - with no indication that there was an out-of-court settlement.

The lawsuit alleged that Swift's book, included as an extra with the special edition of her "Lover" album, borrowed several visual elements from author Teresa La Dart's book, also called “Lover.” La Dart claimed the use of "pastel pinks and blues" and an image of the author in a "downward pose" constituted theft of her intellectual property.

La Dart also claimed copyright to the overall format of the book, including the combination of written and pictorial components and interspersed photographs and writings. However, Swift's lawyers harshly criticised the lawsuit, arguing that the elements in question were generic design formats commonly found in many books and therefore not eligible for copyright protection. 

They contended that La Dart was essentially suing over elements that could not be monopolized by any single author and compared it to suing anyone who had ever written a diary or made a scrapbook.

The counter-arguments towards La Dart led to the case finally being dismissed, and La Dart permanently dropped the lawsuit against Taylor Swift. With the potential of the author losing the case and then having to pay Swift back the legal fees spent for the case, we’ve come to the conclusion the damning comments from her legal team might have put the issue to rest.