Taylor Swift fans, also known as “Swifties,” were elated by the surprise release of Taylor Swift’s album evermore late last year when she announced it as a “sister” album to her previous surprise album folklore. Even more surprised, but not as excited, was Ken Bretschneider, the founder of a theme park in Utah with the same name of “Evermore.” This theme park is now suing Taylor Swift for alleged trademark infringement and is seeking millions of dollars in damages.

Deseret News states, “Evermore Park says Swift’s album stirred ‘actual confusion’ and drowned out the park’s online presence. And it alleges Swift’s attorneys ignored prior legal claims under the belief that the park, hit financially in the pandemic, couldn’t afford to pursue a lawsuit.”

In fact, the park has benefited from being associated with Taylor Swift. When #evermore was trending on Twitter, Evermore Park posted about it saying, “Absolutely love that everyone online is talking about us. … #Evermore! Thank you!”

According to CNN, a spokesman for Taylor Swift has said in response to this claim “The fact is, this frivolous claim is coming from Ken Bretschneider, founder and CEO of an experience park and according to Utah Business, ‘As of June 2020, at least five lawsuits have been filed against Bretschneider and the Evermore group by major construction companies…The companies claim ‘they are owed between $28,000 and $400,000.’ Utah Business says, ‘he owes millions of dollars in construction, mechanic, and landscaping fees to workers across the valley who have yet to be paid’ … with ‘a collection of more than 20 construction liens on the Evermore property.’ The true intent of this lawsuit should be obvious.”

Another problem arises concerning the merchandise. BBC wrote, “But the theme park owners, who are seeking millions of dollars in damages, have said the trademark for the name belongs to them, and that Swift violated it when she started selling album-related merchandise.”

The claim doesn’t really hold up for the merchandise; however, there are many differences between the two “evermores.” One being that for the theme park, Evermore is all capitalized in their logo, while for the album “evermore” is all lower case. Additionally, attorney Douglas Baldridge wrote that Swift’s “website does not sell small dragon eggs, guild patches, or small dragon mounts, and nothing could be remotely characterized as such.” This is referring to the type of merchandise that Evermore Park is selling.

Many Swifties theorize that the choice of the name “evermore” for Swift’s album was inspired by one of Emily Dickinson’s romance poems titled “One Sister have I in our house,” where she uses the term. This also makes sense since the album was announced on Emily Dickinson’s birthday.

While Swift herself has not yet responded, and a hearing in the case has not yet been set, in the singing words of Taylor Swift, “This pain wouldn’t be for evermore.”