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6:09 PM PST 02/24/2021
by
Claudia Rosenbaum, Billboard
The artist’s intellectual property management firm claims that Evermore Park, who sued the singer earlier this month, used her music without obtaining the proper licenses.
Taylor Swift’s intellectual property management firm is taking action after an immersive fantasy theme park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, filed a lawsuit against the artist earlier this month.
As Evermore Park sues Swift for use of the trademark “Evermore” – the title of Swift’s ninth studio album released on December 11 – a new lawsuit brought by TAS [Taylor Alison Swift] Rights management focuses on another issue. The company claims that Evermore Park deliberately used Swift’s songs without the proper licenses for a period of time before filing its complaint.
Swift’s attorneys claim that more than a year before the park initiated its complaint, TAS had been informed that the singer’s songs were being performed and performed there without the required licenses. As early as 2019, BMI, the performing rights organization that protects and collects revenue from works, began notifying the park that it was infringing Swift’s copyright by playing the songs and provided a contract to legal use. Subsequently, BMI sent several letters to the park with a draft music license agreement for the songs, requesting that the agreement be signed and returned to BMI’s location in Nashville.
Swift’s legal team said park officials ignored BMI’s messages and continued to use the works without proper licenses in the performances of the park’s musical actors for visitors. Additionally, after the park learned of this impending lawsuit, its CEO and founder Ken Bretschneider called BMI to seek to purchase a retroactive license to cover all public performances, according to court documents.
Swift’s legal deposit comes three weeks after the park sued the singer, TAS and Taylor Nation LLC in federal court in Utah, accusing them of breaking the park’s name by using it as its title. Always album and accompanying merchandise. Evermore Park, which promotes itself as offering an immersive experience where performers perform fantastic characters in an interactive world, has argued in court documents that it has been the registered owner of the Evermore brand since 2015.
Swift’s attorneys countered that the Park’s lawsuit was simply “a baseless brand claim” and an attempt to force a settlement based on Swift’s December 2020 release of the evermore album.
The park would also play, without a license, works by Katy Perry, Abba, The Beatles, Billy Joel, Britney Spears, Green Day, Gotye, Journey, Nirvana, Semisonic, Third Eye Blind, Tom Petty, Queen, Weezer and Whitney. Houston, among others, according to court documents filed by Swift’s legal team.
Swift asks the court to order that the park pay damages and that he be permanently banned from performing his works. His team is also demanding a jury trial.
This story first appeared on Billboard.com.
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