Taylor Swift faces a lawsuit from songwriters who say she copied their lyrics from her 2014 hit single “Shake It Off”.
In a decision issued on Thursday, Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald denied Taylor Swift’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit saying she took words from her 2014 song Playas Gon’Play . girl group RB 3LW.
Fitzgerald said there are some notable differences between the songs but also “enough objective similarities” that the case should go to trial by jury.
“Although defendants presented a cogent argument to the jury, they failed to show that there were no genuine issues of conceivable fact,” the judge wrote.
A spokeswoman for Swift was unavailable for comment on Friday. In 2017, her representative called the songwriters’ claims of copyright infringement “ridiculous” and “nothing more What a money grab”.
In Shake It Off , Taylor Swift sings: ” The players will play, play, play, play, play and the haters will hate, hate, hate, hate, hate”.
Playas Gon ‘Play, written by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, includes the phrases “players, they’ll play, and haters, they’ll hate”.
Hall and Butler said the combination of “playas” or “player” with “hatas” or “haters” was unique enough to use it in their song. The couple is seeking unspecified damages.
Their case was brought in 2018 but the couple appealed and the copyright case was revived.
