Editor’s Note: New developments have occurred related to this story, click here for the latest.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABC4) – Just weeks after a Utah theme park sued singer/songwriter Taylor Swift, her intellectual property management company is taking a different action.
Court documents show TAS (Taylor Alison Swift) Rights Management is suing Pleasant Grove’s Evermore Park, saying the park used Swift’s songs without proper licenses before it filed its own lawsuit.
The lawsuit says Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), which is tasked with protecting the works of Swift and over a million other artists around the world, repeatedly attempted to contact Evermore Park to inform them that their use of copyrighted pieces was unlawful. Evermore Park allegedly “ignored those messages, opting instead to continuing using [three of Swift’s songs, called the Works] without authorization, with full knowledge of their infringement, to drive attention and attendance to their theme park.”
In early February, Evermore Park’s chief executive officer Ken Bretschneider filed a lawsuit against Swift for trademark infringement with her latest album, ‘Evermore.’ That lawsuit alleges the album negatively impacted the park, specifically its online presence, which spiked after ‘Evermore’ was released.
The park also alleges it sent Swift a cease and desist letter in mid-December. Swift’s legal team says the claims of trademark infringement are baseless, adding that the addition of “Taylor Swift…Album” around Evermore makes the trademark different, which is allowed under current U.S. law. They add that while the theme park frequently uses an all-upper-case spelling of Evermore, the album uses all lower-case spelling.
Bretschneider told ABC4 in early February that he has received backlash for the lawsuit against Swift.
“Taylor Swift’s PR team has gone out and made me look like the worst possible person on the planet,” he said. “I’ve had people sending me death threats, I’ve had people telling me to kill myself and people who have never been to our park giving one-star reviews.”
SLIDESHOW: Some artists who allegedly had their songs unlawfully played at Evermore Park
Katy Perry 
Members of the pop group ABBA try old-style Japanese umbrellas, made of bamboo frame and coarse oil paper, in a light spring rain at their hotel’s Japanese garden, March 14, 1980. From left: Benny Andersson, Agnetha Foltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. (AP Photo/Tsugufumi Matsumoto) 
The Beatles 
Billy Joel 
US singer Britney Spears arrives for the premiere of Sony Pictures’ “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on July 22, 2019. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo credit should read VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images) 
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 07: (L-R) Harms speaks with Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool, and Mike Dirnt of Green Day onstage during the iHeartRadio Album Release Party at iHeartRadio Theater on February 07, 2020 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeart) 
Gotye 
Gregg Rolie, from left, Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain of the band Journey pose in the press room at the 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Barclays Center on Friday, April 7, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP) 
Tom Petty 
FILE – In this Sept. 15, 2004 file photo, recording artist Whitney Houston performs at the 2004 World Music Awards at the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas. Houston is about to appear on the concert stage again. Eight years after her death, five years after the show was conceived and a year after production began, a holographic Houston will embark on a European tour starting Feb. 25, with U.S. dates expected to follow. The singer’s sister-in-law and former manager Pat Houston says it’s the right time for a revival, and says it’s a show Whitney Houston would’ve wanted. The concerts will feature a projected Houston performing most of her biggest hits, including “I Will Always Love You,” with real backup dancers and a live band. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison, file)
Court documents show this latest lawsuit by Swift’s team alleges that “Recently, and only after this lawsuit became imminent, [Evermore Park has] reached out to BMI in an overt attempt to cover up their years of unlawful conduct and intentional failure to compensate artists, admitting that any prior use was without license or authorization.”
BMI says Evermore Park has also played songs 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.
Swift’s team calls the lawsuit by Evermore Park “a meritless trademark claim” in their current filings.
SLIDESHOW: Photos of Evermore Park
It also includes statements sent from BMI to Evermore Park, saying that between May 2019 and December 2019, the park racked up a music usage fee of $1,728.67.
This lawsuit accuses Bretschneider and Evermore Park of one count of copyright infringement and one count of vicarious copyright infringement. It asks that the court order Evermore Park to pay Swift actual damages and profits attributable to the infringement and be permanently enjoined from playing her works. Her team also demands a trial by jury.
You can read the full court document below:
ABC4 has reached out to Swift’s team and Evermore Park for comment. A future court date has yet to be set for this case.
