Can't shake this: Taylor Swift to face copyright lawsuit

Record ID: 1650916

  • Title: Can't shake this: Taylor Swift to face copyright lawsuit
  • Date: 10th December 2021
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - NOVEMBER 24, 2019) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF SWIFT POSING FOR PHOTOS ON THE RED CARPET AT THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS
  • Embargoed: 24th December 2021 20:10
  • Keywords: Taylor Swift copyright lawsuit
  • Location: PARK CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES/LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES
  • City: PARK CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES/LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Music,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA002F7GHFF1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Pop superstar Taylor Swift must face a lawsuit from songwriters who claim the Grammy-winning singer copied their lyrics in her 2014 hit single "Shake It Off," a California judge has ruled.
    In a decision issued on Thursday (December 9), U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald rejected Swift's bid to throw out a suit that said she took wording from the 2014 song "Playas Gon' Play" by R&B girl group 3LW.
    Fitzgerald said there were "some noticeable differences" between the songs but also "enough objective similarities" that the case should go to a jury trial.
    "Although Defendants have made a strong closing argument for a jury, they have not shown that there are no genuine issues of triable fact," the judge wrote.
    A spokeswoman for Swift had no comment on Friday (December 10). In 2017, her representatives had called the songwriters' claim of copyright infringement "ridiculous" and "nothing more than a money grab."
    In "Shake It Off," Swift sings: "the players gonna play, play, play, play, play, and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."
    "Playas Gon' Play," written by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, included the phrases "players, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate."
    Hall and Butler said the combination of playas or players with hatas or haters was unique to its use in their song. The pair are seeking unspecified damages.
    Their case had been thrown out in 2018 but the pair appealed and the suit was revived.
    (Production: Omar Younis)
  • Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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