Taylor Swift to face trial in ‘Shake It Off’ suit
A California federal judge has denied Taylor Swift’s request to dismiss a copyright lawsuit that accuses the songwriter of plagiarising lyrics in her chart-topping single “Shake It Off”.
The US District Court for the Central District of California denied Swift’s motion for summary judgment on Thursday, holding that the lawsuit should see trial.
The lawsuit, filed by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler in 2017, claims that Swift’s use of the lyrics “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate”, which feature in the chorus of “Shake It Off”, infringe on a song they had co-written for all-girl group 3LW in 2001.
Swift had already attempted to dismiss the case in January 2018 on the grounds that the disputed lyrics “lacked originality” to enjoy copyright protection. The California court initially agreed that the lyrics in Hall’s song were not protectable nor enforceable, granting the motion.
However, Hall appealed this decision to the Ninth Circuit in 2019, overturning the summary judgment, giving Hall and Butler another chance to pursue the case.
Swift filed her motion for a summary judgment on Monday, July 19, claiming that Hall and Butler had failed to prove a “genuine dispute of material fact”, essentially asking the court to “reconsider” the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.
District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald denied the motion on Thursday, December 9, saying “Although Defendants have made a strong closing argument for a jury, they have not shown that there are no genuine issues of triable fact such that defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
According to the ruling, Swift provided no further evidence why Hall and Butler were not entitled to “at least some level ofprotection” for the structure and arrangement of the phrases in their song.
‘Awash with banalities’
Potter Clarkson partner Mark Kramer told WIPR that the court’s decision should be “roundly welcomed” by pop artists.
“After all, the pop industry is awash with banalities,” he added. “As discussed by the UK court recently, where lyrics or music are banal it makes it less than surprising that several different artists have come up with them, particularly when it comes to commonplace expressions.
“Ultimately, the question for the courts in such popular music cases, as with all copyright cases, is did copying occur? Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see what evidence Hall and Butler have to demonstrate that Taylor Swift did not just create a similar track independently.”
Hall and Butler are not the only ones to target the hit song in court. California-based songwriter Jesse Graham also alleged that Swift’s single infringed on his song “Haters Gon’ Hate” which he wrote in 2013.
Graham sued Swift twice, once in 2015 and again in 2019, claiming that Swift “extensively copied” his composition and was entitled to roughly 20% of the song.
The 2015 suit—which requested $42 million in damages for the infringement—was later dismissed by the court. The second copyright suit is still ongoing.
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