Taylor Swift is Headed Back to Court, This Time Over Copyright Infringement

The last time we reported about Taylor Swift being in court, it was when she had her moral victory over the radio DJ who groped her at a photo op.

Swift is going to have to head back to court, though, and this time seeks not the hero fighting for women’s right against a creepy dude. No, she’s going to have to defend herself against charges that she stole her song ‘Shake it Off’.

The case had previously been ruled in Swift’s favor, but THR reported that an appeals court overruled that decision and sent it back for Swift and plaintiffs Sean Hall and Nathan Butler to duke it out some more.

Basically, Hall and Butler are accusing Swift of stealing ‘Shake it Off’ from the 3LW song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’, which they wrote.

Here’s that song:

And here’s Swift’s song.

The first thing you’ll notice is they sound nothing alike. The second thing you’ll notice is that it’s totally insane Taylor Swift is some kind of sex symbol.

The copyright claim basically rests on Hall and Butler claiming exclusive use of the phrase “Players gonna play and haters gonna hate” in song lyrics. Now I’m not a lawyer but that sounds completely insane, which was the view of the original trial judge.

In February 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Michael W Fitzgerald wasn’t impressed with the plaintiffs’ complaint, writing, “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 when numerous recent popular songs had each addressed the subjects of players, haters, and player haters.”

It’s so amazing to see that written like that. The appeals court didn’t exactly disagree, they basically ruled Fitzgerald wasn’t qualified to decide that the lyrics weren’t unique enough for copyright protection. Which means Swift’s legal team will presumably have to introduce evidence and expert witnesses to testify that players are, in fact, going to play,