Hater Judge Rules Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ To Be ‘Not Creative’

Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, two guys you’ve probably never heard of, tried to sue Taylor Swift, someone you’ve definitely heard of, over the lyrics to “Shake It Off.” Hall and Butler wrote a track titled “Playas Gon’ Play” for girl group 3LW. If you’ve heard “Shake It Off” (and you’ve definitely heard “Shake It Off”) and you see the 3LW song title, you can already see where this is going.

The case went to court and judge Michael W Fitzgerald ruled it to be the stupid case he’s ever heard.

“In the early 2000s, popular culture was adequately suffused with the concepts of players and haters to render the phrases ‘playas… gonna play’ or ‘haters… gonna hate’, standing on their own, no more creative than ‘runners gonna run’; ‘drummers gonna drum’; or ‘swimmers gonna swim.’

“The concept of actors acting in accordance with their essential nature is not at all creative; it is banal.

“The allegedly infringed lyrics are short phrases that lack the modicum of originality and creativity required for copyright protection,” Fitzgerald added.

Judges gonna judge, judge, judge, judge.

Gerard Fox, the lawyer for Hall and Butler, decided to play the ol’ “He’s not an expert” card, saying, “He cannot make himself an expert in the music industry. I’m sorry. It’s actually embarrassing.”

Dude, you don’t have to be a music industry expert to know when something is basic. “Shake It Off” is my go-to dance/karaoke jam and I’ll defend Swift until I die, but the lyrics are basic. Maybe I’m not qualified to make that ruling because I’m not a music industry expert. Just a writer who writes, writes, writes, writes.

Celebs copyrighting phrases is nothing new. Swift has tried to copyright her entire life, Bruce Buffer has a copyright on “Let’s Get Ready To Rumble!” and makes more money off that than his actual job of announcing. Some dude from Storage Wars copyrighted the term “YUUUP!” But only with three U’s.

David and Victoria Beckham have the names of their children trademarked.

Trademarkers gonna….yeah, that doesn’t fit into a sick beat so well.