Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” Lawsuit Is Over After Five Years
3 min read
With the release of her hit single ‘Shake It Off’ in 2014, Taylor Swift has officially shaken off a lawsuit. Despite having been set for trial just weeks before, a judge dismissed Taylor Swift’s copyright infringement case after lawyers for Swift and Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, the songwriters who had filed suit, jointly requested dismissal. According to the Times report, the “brief filing” provided no details or mention of a settlement. ‘Shake It Off’, the first single from Taylor Swift’s 1989 album, ended a five-year legal battle. It was alleged that the lines “the players gonna play, play, play, play, play, play” and “the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate” in “Shake It Off” violated their 2000 song’s copyright, according to Sean Hall and Nathan Butler who wrote “Playas Gon’ Play” by 3LW.
The copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift for ‘Shake It Off’ has officially been dropped after five years. pic.twitter.com/HVXaMIjVPZ
— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 12, 2022
In the song “Playas Gon’ Play,” there is a line saying, “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate.” “Haters gonna hate” was not protected under copyright in 2018 by a judge, who said that this phrase is too “banal” to be protected. In addition, the judge pointed out that a number of other songs, such as Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Playa Hater,” also feature similar usage. It was later determined that the case would be tried in district court after the Ninth Circuit reversed the ruling a year later. A new motion was filed by Taylor Swift’s lawyers in December seeking to rescind U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald’s decision to dismiss the case.
It’s Official: Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ Lawsuit Has Been Dropped After 5 Years
The lead song to Taylor Swift’s 1989 album has been cleared of a copyright lawsuit. It was reported that the two songwriters, Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, ordered the lawsuit to be dismissed without prejudice, which means they will not be able to refile. In the original plan, the case would have gone to trial on 17th January. In court documents obtained by Page Six, attorneys for the Grammy-winning singer and the two songwriters requested that the lawsuit be dismissed “in its entirety.” No settlement was announced in the court papers on Monday. Swift can now continue re-recording her album after the lawsuit is settled. Swift’s victory follows her announcement four months ago that she had never heard the song she was accused of plagiarizing.
According to Billboard, the singer claimed that all lyrics to “Shake It Off” were written by Taylor. Sean Hall and Nathan Butler originally claimed the 33-year-old took the lines they wrote in “Playas gon’ play / Haters gon’ hate” to write “Cause the players gon’ play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gon’ hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.” Taylor Swift firmly denied the claim, saying the lyrics “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” had been heard “countless times.” A large part of the inspiration for writing the lyrics was drawn from my own experiences, particularly the unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, the clickbait reporting, the public manipulation, and other negative personal criticism I learned to shake off and concentrate on my music. While preparing for her Eras tour and releasing her 10th original studio album, Midnights, Taylor Swift has also been working on re-recording her older albums in order to own her master to her music.
