Taylor Swift will not be going to trial over her hit song “Shake It Off.” Those who sued her for copyright infringement have decided to drop the case.
As previously reported, songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler sued Taylor in 2017, claiming that her 2014 hit ripped off the lyrics of their 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play,” which was recorded by 3LW. The case was dismissed in 2018, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to a U.S. District Court the following year.
A jury trial was scheduled to start next month.
Billboard reports that after Taylor’s team filed various motions for dismissal, the parties came together to ask for an order “dismissing this action in its entirety” from the judge. No information about arrangements of settlement were provided, including if there was any payment of monetary damages or songwriting credit.
When the case was revived in 2019, Taylor’s reps told ABC Audio they were confident that they would emerge victorious.
“[Hall and Butler] are not the originators, or creators of [these] common phrases,” the statement explained in relation to the contested lyrics “playas gonna play” and “haters gonna hate.” The rep continued, “They did not invent these common phrases, nor are they the first to use them in a song. We are confident the true writers of ‘Shake It Off’ will prevail again.”
“Their claim is not a crusade for all creatives,” the rep concluded. “It is a crusade for Mr. Hall’s bank account.”
As of print time Monday afternoon, the motion to settle remains pending.
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