Are you ready? Realtor.com hit by Taylor Swift’s copyright claim

On Monday, photographer Brynn Burns, who was responsible for a portfolio of photos of the estate where Travis Kelce proposed to Taylor Swift, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Missouri against the parent company of Realtor.com. Move, Inc. for allegedly using her copyrighted photos without permission. Burns also mentioned the National Association of Real Estate Agents (NAR), which the lawsuit alleges was doing business as Realtor.com, as a defendant. However, NAR has no longer been involved with Realtor.com since the sale of Move to News Corp in November 2014.

In the lawsuit, Burns alleges that Realtor.com, in an effort to capitalize on the excitement surrounding Swift and Kelce’s engagement, pieces including “impossible to find” photos of the inside of Kelce’s home, using Burns’ images.

“Defendants knew that these photographs were of Plaintiff,” the complaint states. “Defendants used and published these photos without Plaintiff’s permission to drive millions of people to Defendant’s profitable website, Realtor.com, under the belief that it would be better (and cheaper) to ‘beg for forgiveness’ rather than having sought Plaintiff’s permission.”

According to the complaint, Burns took the photos in 2023 and registered them with the US Copyright Office in January 2024. However, copyright office records show that Burns took the photos in September 2022, before Kelce even bought the house.

Burns claims that by publishing her photos, Realtor.com made them useless.

“Plaintiff cannot sell or license the Work in Jackson County, Missouri because Defendants made the Work freely available to the world through their piracy of the Work,” the complaint states.

Before using the photos in the post in question, Realtor.com licensed Burns’ photos for just over a year, starting in December 2023. According to Burns, the agreement expired about seven months before Swift and Kelce’s engagement in August 2025.

The lawsuit alleges that Realtor.com stood to profit from the use of Burns’ images in its posts.

“The work attracted potential customers to Defendants’ website, and Defendants turned some of these individuals into paying customers of Defendants’ real estate business,” the complaint said. “Defendants never paid Plaintiff for the Work and never asked permission to use the Work.”

Burns is demanding a jury trial and seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

NAR and Move did not immediately return HousingWire’s request for comment.