Taylor Swift to face trial in ‘Shake It Off’ suit
13-12-2021
Taylor Swift tries to shake off lyric infringement suit
21-07-2021
07-01-2022
Brian Friedman / Shutterstock.com
Singer Taylor Swift’s inability to shake off an infringement suit over her chart-topping anthem reflects the complex copyright issues facing musicians, say Edward Weisz and Keren Goldberger of Cozen O’Connor.
Popular music has many common themes, both lyrically and musically. Most songs featured in the Top 40 music charts are about love or partying and have similar chord progressions and musical motifs.
Singers or musical groups may share a similar sound or look, or can produce songs that sound similar to others. Additionally, songwriters and musicians may use sounds and themes from their predecessors to bring an old sound into a new age. But when does sounding too similar cross the line between scènes à faire—common themes borrowed from one’s musical idols—and copyright infringement?
Elusive evidence
The rest of this article is locked for subscribers only. Please login to continue reading.
If you don't have a login, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content. Please use this link and follow the steps.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription to us that we can add you to for FREE, please email Atif Choudhury at achoudhury@worldipreview.com
Taylor Swift, copyright infringement, music, US District Court for the District of Central California, plaintiff, Shake it off, summary judgment