Taylor Swift asks judge to dismiss ‘Shake It Off’ copyright lawsuit

Attorneys representing Taylor Swift and others who helped write the music to her 2014 hit “Shake It Off” asked a judge last week to reconsider the decision not to dismiss the case, arguing that allowing the lawsuit to continue would be “unprecedented.”

>> Read more trending news

Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler filed suit against Swift and others in 2017, claiming that the lyrics to “Shake It Off” borrowed from their hit “Playas Gon’ Play,” which was released in 2001 by 3LW. A judge dismissed the suit in 2018, though an appeals court later reversed that ruling.

In a memo filed Thursday in court, attorneys for Swift said that in his ruling allowing the case to appear before a jury, U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald failed to address whether the lyrics of the two songs which he considered to be similar were unprotected phrases from the public domain.

“The order (issued Dec. 3) does something that, as far as (the) defendants are aware, no other court has done, namely finding a potentially valid infringement claim in the use of two short public domain phrases along with allegedly similar ideas and concepts,” attorneys for Swift said in their filing.

>> Related: Taylor Swift to face trial in ‘Shake It Off’ copyright case

In Hall and Butler’s suit, lawyers pointed to the “Playas Gon’ Play” lyrics, “Playas, they gon’ play/ And haters, they gonna hate,” as compared to the “Shake It Off” lyrics, “‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”

Swift’s team noted in a memo filed last week that Loren Kajikawa, an expert witness for Hall and Butler, said in a deposition that the phrases “playas gon’ play” and “haters gonna hate” were part of the “urban vocabulary” and therefore unprotected. Attorneys for Swift also noted that other claimed similarities between the songs, such as their use of the disputed phrases to convey the idea that people should trust in themselves rather than concern themselves with the opinions of others, are also unprotected.

“Even assuming for the sake of argument that the lyrics share the same idea or concept, that does not satisfy the extrinsic test because ideas are not protected by copyright and, as a result, also must be disregarded,” they argued.

“Playas Gon’ Play” became a hit after it was released by 3LW in May 2001, appearing on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and featuring prominently on popular music video shows airing at the time, including MTV’s “Total Request Live.”

“Shake It Off” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in August 2014 and remained on the charts for 50 weeks.

If allowed to continue, the case is expected to be heard before a jury in August 2022.

©2021 Cox Media Group