Taylor Swift Can't Shake Off This Lawsuit

LOS ANGELES, CA — A lawsuit against Taylor Swift won't be shaken off, according to a Los Angeles federal judge. On Thursday, he refused to dismiss the two songwriters' claim that Taylor Swift used their lyrics from a 2001 song for her smash hit "Shake It Off," court records show. That claim has been ongoing since 2017.

In the suit, songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler alleged that Swift lifted lyrics from the 2001 3LW recording "Playas Gon' Play," which includes the phrase: "Playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate."

The lyrics in Swift's song, by comparison, read: "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald dismissed the claim in 2018, finding that the disputed lyrics lacked sufficient originality to merit copyright protection. However, an appeals court overturned the Los Angeles federal judge's decision the following year.

In a Wednesday ruling, Fitzgerald refused to toss the case out of court.
The judge wrote that Hall and Butler "have sufficiently alleged a protectable selection and arrangement or a sequence of creative expression," and Swift's "use as alleged is similar enough" to survive the motion to dismiss.

The plaintiffs seek a share of the profits from Swift's hit.

According to the lawsuit, over 9 million copies of the song sold as of the filing date and 6 million copies of Swift's album "1989," and the video for the song had nearly 2.4 billion views on YouTube.

Swift's representatives reacted when the suit was filed, saying it "a ridiculous claim and nothing more than a money grab. The law is simple and clear. They do not have a case."

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.