Taylor Swift may sue Kanye West, Kim Kardashian for recording 'Famous' phone call

A new chapter of the Taylor Swift-Kanye West feud started on Sunday, 17 July 2016. Kim Kardashian posted a series of videos on Snapchat in which her husband Kanye West asks for Swift’s permission for using her name and certain lyrics in the song ‘Famous’ — a song that Swift has labeled as offensive and misogynist. [caption id=“attachment_1797689” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A still from a Taylor Swift video. Image courtesy: Youtube[/caption] Taylor Swift was equally surprised about the move as the rest of us, and took to Instagram and Twitter to comment about the Snapchat videos where she stated West had nowhere in the phone conversations mentioned that he was going to call her ’that bitch’ in the song. The saga took an uglier turn when Taylor Swift’s camp said they might sue ‘Kimye’ for recording the phone conversation on video.  If Swift’s lawyers can prove she was unaware that she was being recorded, the recorder could be held liable. California Penal Code Section 632 states:

Every person who, intentionally and without the consent of all parties to a confidential communication, by means of any electronic amplifying or recording device, eavesdrops upon or records the confidential communication, whether the communication is carried on among the parties in the presence of one another or by means of a telegraph, telephone, or other device, except a radio, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

But recent reports have stated that Swift cannot sue West and Kardashian over the recording because Swift knew that other people were listening in.  Under California law, it’s a crime to release “confidential communication” when the other party does not know they’re being taped, but “confidential communication” does not include conversations that “may be overheard”. Legal case in hand or not, we hope we can at least expect a song along the lines of ‘Bad Blood’ directed at Kanye West and Kim Kardashian from the singer.