Taylor Swift and Painter Argue Over Copyright Infringement Accusation

Taylor Swift's spokesperson and artist Ally Burguieres have been sparring back and forth over a copyright infringement accusation.

Burguieres claims Swift used her painting without permission and unfairly compensated her, according to Rolling Stone.

This issue goes back all the way back to Halloween 2014 when Swift first posted a fan-made watercolor of a fox next to her 1989 song "I Know Places." Once Burguieres saw her image, which she normally sells prints of for $45, was clearly recreated, she asked for it to be removed. After the artist's request Swift took down the image, except it took months for the "Shake It Off" singer to compensate Burguieres.

"After months of effort, I received an offer from you and your team that mentions no credit to me as the artist of the design, but does include payment of a 'four-figure' amount, with the stipulation that I must donate it all," Burguieres wrote in an open letter to Swift.

"Taylor, as a professional, would you agree to such terms from Apple, or Spotify? My work is my living -­- it is how I pay bills and support my family and employees."

Burguieres said her lawyer claims Swift's lawyer wanted her to donate a portion of the money she received to animal causes. Swift's representative denies this claim and asserts, "There was no requirement of a contribution to any charity."

Swift's team alleges that Burguieres failed to contact Swift's office concerning the matter, and instead they responded to her post on social media. They respectfully took down the post displaying her image and made her an offer.

"[The artist's lawyer] promised to get back to us with an explanation of why she felt Ms. Burguieres was entitled to more money, but she never did that and the next we heard was Ms. Burguieres' new posting," Swift's spokesperson said.

"We have tried on multiple occasions to address Ms. Burguieres' concerns, but these actions make it clear to us that this is just an unfortunate effort to extract more money and more publicity."

Burguieres disagrees with Swift's spokesperson and says she tried to contact Swift several times. She was also wondering why Swift would not attribute her to the image. Burguieres says she did not receive any publicity from the incident until she posted her open letter to Swift.