Taylor Swift Not Directly Participating in Suing Sports Bar

Sat, 21 November 2009 02:45:56 ET

Commenting on earlier reports that the country crooner has attached herself to a copyright infringement lawsuit led by BMI, director Jerry W. Bailey issues a statement to clarify the matter.

Taylor Swift apparently isn't directly involved in the suing of sports bar in Idaho for unlicensed music. Clarifying the matter, BMI director Jerry W. Bailey issued a statement regarding the copyright infringement lawsuit against The Sports Cellar. "The story originated with TMZ, which took gross creative liberty with the facts," he began explaining.

"BMI filed a routine lawsuit against a bar for not licensing music over a span of several years. (We file dozens of such lawsuits every year) On the two nights we surveyed music in the bar, there were ten songs we selected to include in the copyright infringement suit (because they were among the titles our researcher happened to hear)," he continued on. "One was a Taylor Swift song."

"Our 400,000 copyright owners sign all the necessary contracts for such lawsuits when they initially join BMI," Bailey added, before ending the statement saying, "Other than by the sheer chance that Taylor owned one of the songs heard on the night our researcher visited the establishment, she personally has no direct participation in this copyright infringement suit."

Last Thursday, November 19, TMZ sparked report that Taylor Swift was suing a little sports bar in Idaho for stolen music. The site claimed that the 19-year-old had attached herself to a copyright infringement lawsuit launched by BMI. The action was allegedly taken after a sting operation that was done last year reveals that the bar plays her music without paying her.

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