A federal judge in Los Angeles has announced that a copyright infringement lawsuit against Taylor Swift regarding lyrics from her song "Shake It Off" would go ahead in court.
The pop songstress' 2014 hit off her "1989" album rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
The lawsuit was updated this week by the same California federal judge who once called for its dismissal. United States District Judge Michael Fitzgerald dismissed the copyright infringement lawsuit filed by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler who sued over the hit's chorus lyrics "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate," reported Law and Crime.
In early 2018, the judge found that the complainants did not have adequate evidence for copyright infringement but the decision was reportedly overturned by an appeals court in October 2019.
3LW's 2001 Song 'Playas Gon' Play'
Songwriters Hall and Butler initially filed the lawsuit against the "Lover" singer's "Shake It Off" for being similar to girl group 3LW's 2001 hit "Playas Gon' Play" are appealing for a percentage of its profits.
Fitzgerald ruled that the litigators "have sufficiently alleged a protectable selection and arrangement or a sequence of creative expression. He added that Swift's "use as alleged is similar enough," reported The New York Post.
The initial lawsuit filed by Hall and Butler alleged that Swift's 2014 "Shake It Off" chorus lyrics infringed on lyrics from "Playas Gon' Play": "The playas gon' play/ Them haters gonna hate" and "Playas, they gonna play/ And haters, they gonna hate," reported Stereogum.
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Updated Lawsuit
A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals reestablished the copyright infringement case prior to Fitzgerald ruling that the lawsuit could proceed.
Fitzgerald ruled that the songwriters have adequately alleged similarity between Swift's 2014 song and their song to set forth with the lawsuit.
The documents indicate that Swift and her team's reasoning fails and it cannot be distinguished at this stage that the lyrics are not considerably similar.
The pertinent portions of "Shake It Off" that the pair have specified were indicated to be sufficiently similar to "Playas Gon' Play."
In a statement upon the reopening of the case last October according to Hall, "We are happy the court unanimously sided with us. We simply refuse to sit still and have our creative work be culturally appropriated as if it never existed. This case is giving voice to all of those creatives who can't afford to stand up and protect their work in the face of well-financed Goliaths," reported NME.
This is not the first copyright infringement allegations regarding "Shake It Off." Another U.S. District Court judge rejected another "Shake It Off" lawsuit in 2014 in which writer Jesse Braham of the 2013 song "Haters Gonna Hate" alleged that Swift stole his lyrics and sought $42 million as compensation.
Swift's hit song sold over nine million copies as of the date of the filing.
Swift's representatives have argued that Hall and Butler contentions are a money grab.
