Aileen Cannon Isn’t Ready to Dismiss Taylor Swift Lawsuit
2 days ago
2,578
A copyright infringement case against Taylor Swift could continue after the plaintiff said she served the singer with the lawsuit on Monday.
Kimberly Marasco, a Florida artist, is asking for more than $7 million in damages, alleging that Swift’s songs and music videos have “creative elements” that copy her work without authorization or credit. The lawsuit cites several songs and videos from Swift’s albums Lover, Folklore, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department.
Swift’s attorneys recently asked the judge presiding over the case, Judge Aileen Cannon, to dismiss the claims against the singer because Marasco had failed to serve the lawsuit in the eight months since it was filed.
Marasco filed an acknowledgment of service on Monday after she issued a summons in the care of Florida’s secretary of state.
Newsweek reached out to Swift’s publicist via email for comment.
Taylor Swift (L) and Kimberly Marasco. Judge Aileen Cannon gave the woman suing Swift one final opportunity to serve the singer before the claims are dismissed. Taylor Swift (L) and Kimberly Marasco. Judge Aileen Cannon gave the woman suing Swift one final opportunity to serve the singer before the claims are dismissed. Photo By Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa USA via AP Images and U.S. Senate via AP
The news comes just days after Cannon gave Marasco one last chance to serve Swift.
“Plaintiff is afforded one final opportunity to properly effectuate service of process on Defendant Taylor Swift and file proof thereof on the docket,” Cannon said in a paperless order on Friday.
The order gave Marasco until December 20 to serve the lawsuit and file proof. Cannon said she would dismiss the claims against Swift if the deadline were not met.
Marasco is representing herself in the case. Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, explained that it is not unusual for individuals representing themselves to experience difficulties with service.
“It’s sometimes hard for plaintiffs who are unrepresented to comply with procedural formalities,” Rahmani told Newsweek. “They don’t have access to process servers and investigators like lawyers do.”
He said that when an individual attempts to serve an entity, such as a corporation, the service is sometimes done through the secretary of state.
“Entities, corporations, they’re not living beings,” Rahmani said. “You have to serve an individual, and that individual is identified through the secretary of state. But that’s still not going to suffice to serve Taylor Swift personally.”
Rahmani said Swift needs to be served personally or using another legally permissible method. He said the lawsuit could be dismissed on December 20 if the court does not accept the acknowledgment of service.
“I think it’s likely that Cannon is going to dismiss the lawsuit on that day if service isn’t effective,” Rahmani said.
If the lawsuit is dismissed, it will likely be without prejudice, he said. This means that Marasco could refile the lawsuit in the future.
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
Um die besten Erfahrungen zu bieten, verwenden wir Technologien wie Cookies, um Geräteinformationen zu speichern und/oder darauf zuzugreifen. Wenn Sie diesen Technologien zustimmen, können wir Daten wie das Surfverhalten oder eindeutige IDs auf dieser Website verarbeiten. Die Nichteinwilligung oder der Widerruf der Einwilligung kann bestimmte Merkmale und Funktionen beeinträchtigen.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
