Earlier this month, a fantasy themed amusement park in Utah called Evermore sued Taylor Swift for trademark infringement over her most recent album of the same name. Now, TAS Rights Management, the company that handles Swift’s trademark and music rights, has filed a countersuit against the park, Rolling Stone points out and Pitchfork can confirm.
According to court documents viewed by Pitchfork, the countersuit claims that Evermore Park routinely played Taylor Swift’s music on its grounds “without authorization or license agreement.”
The docket includes two letters from BMI (the performance rights organization) to Evermore Park, from August and September 2019. Both letters inform Evermore Park of the copyrighted nature of music use. “In the past, letters have been mailed to your attention along with licenses reflecting your music usage fee of $1,728.67 for the period of May, 2019 to December, 2019 only,” one letter states. “This fee does not include all other unlicensed periods in which you were using music.” The lawsuit specifically references the park’s use of Swift’s songs “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me,” and “Bad Blood.”
TAS’ suit claims that starting in 2019, BMI repeatedly tried to reach out to Evermore Park via phone calls, emails, and letters, however they claim that the amusement park responded only after they learned that TAS’ countersuit was imminent.
TAS is seeking a court order for Evermore Park to pay enhanced statutory damages for each infringed upon work and performance.
Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Evermore Park and TAS Rights Management for comment.