Taylor Swift ‘Shakes Off’ copyright infringement lawsuit

Taylor Swift. Photo by Stewart Cook/REX/Shutterstock

Taylor Swift was brought into Federal Court on Tuesday for a copyright infringement lawsuit from Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler who wrote and composed “Playas Gon’ Play.”

Hall and Butler filed the lawsuit with their lawyers last fall because they claim that Taylor Swift’s song “Shake it Off” holds a similar resemblance to their song. They specifically claim that the line “Players gonna play, play, play, play, play, and haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” is very similar to the line in their song “Playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate.”

According to Variety, Fitzgerald explained that “By 2001, American popular culture was heavily steeped in the concepts of players, haters, and player haters.” he adds that “It is hardly surprising that Plaintiffs, hoping to convey the notion that one should persist regardless of others’ thoughts or actions, focused on both players playing and haters hating.” However, he states that “combining two truisms about playas and haters, both well-worn notions as of 2001, is simply not enough.”Fitzgerald dismissed the case because the lyrics in question were unoriginal and therefore did not warrant Copyright Act protection.

He urged the plaintiffs not to resubmit the lawsuit – unless there were other ways to show copyright infringement.