18h09 PST 2/24/2021
in
Claudia Rosenbaum, Billboard
The artist’s intellectual property management company says Evermore Park, which 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.
While Evermore Park is suing Swift for the use of the trademark “Evermore” – the title of Swift’s ninth studio album released on December 11 – a new lawsuit filed by TAS [Taylor Alison Swift] Rights Management is focused on a different subject. The company claims that Evermore Park intentionally used Swift’s songs without the proper licenses for some time before filing the lawsuit.
Swift’s lawyers say that more than a year before the park filed the lawsuit, TAS was warned that the singer’s songs were being performed and played there without the necessary licenses. As early as 2019, BMI, the performance rights organization that protects and raises revenue for the works, began to inform the park that they were infringing Swift’s copyright by playing the songs and providing a contract for legal use. Subsequently, BMI sent several letters to the park with a draft music license agreement for the songs, requesting that the contract be signed and returned to BMI’s Nashville location.
Swift’s legal team said park officials ignored BMI messages and continued to use the works without proper licenses in presentations by park musicians to visitors. In addition, after the park learned of this impending process, its CEO and founder Ken Bretschneider called BMI seeking to purchase a retroactive license to cover all public presentations, according to court documents.
Swift’s lawsuit comes three weeks after the park sued the singer, TAS and Taylor Nation LLC in Utah’s federal court, accusing them of infringing the park’s name by using it as her title Ever album and accompanying merchandise. Evermore Park, which presents itself as an immersive experience where performers portray fantasy characters in an interactive world, argued in court documents that it has been the registered owner of the Evermore brand since 2015.
Swift’s lawyers contested that the park lawsuit was merely “a meritless trademark complaint” and an attempt to force a deal based on the December 2020 release of Swift from the evermore album.
The park is also playing, without licenses, the works of 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 submitted by Swift’s legal team.
Swift is asking the court to order the park to pay damages and be permanently banned from touching his works. Your team also requires a jury trial.
This story first appeared on Billboard.com.