Taylor Swift Sued By Long Island Man Over Her App

A Nassau man claims that pop star Taylor Swift is infringing on his long-held trademark, and he's trying to take her to court to get it back.

Patrick Benot is the owner of SwiftLife Computer Services, based in Wantagh. It's a one-man business that Benot founded in the early 2000s and incorporated in 2007, right after he graduated college. He has held the trademark on "SwiftLife" for a decade.

Benot claims that Taylor Swift's company never reached out to him about using the name "Swift Life" for her app, which launched in December 2017. Benot says the launch of the app has pushed his business down in Google search results, where it used to be near the top. In addition, he claims his revenue is down this year compared to last year.

The lawsuit claims that Swift knows how trademarks work (because she holds many herself), and that Swift and the company making the game, Glu Games, were intentionally ignoring Benot's trademark claim. Benot is seeking unspecified monetary damages in his lawsuit.

In his lawsuit, Benot claims that he is filing the suit to stand up for himself as a small company facing giant ones, "much like Ms. Swift in her fights against the bullies she has encountered in her own life.

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