Taylor Swift shakes off copyright suit; judge invokes her lyrics in opinion
Image of Taylor Swift from Featureflash / Shutterstock.com.
A federal magistrate judge in California used Taylor Swift’s lyrics to dismiss a pro se lawsuit filed by a songwriter who claimed the song “Shake It Off” infringed the copyright for his own song “Haters Gone Hate.”
In a Nov. 10 order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gail Standish of Los Angeles ruled (PDF) against songwriter Jessie Braham, who had sought $42 million in damages, CNN reports in a story noted by Above the Law and the Business Insider.
“At present, the court is not saying that Braham can never, ever, ever get his case back in court. But, for now, we have got problems, and the court is not sure Braham can solve them,” Standish wrote, in a nod to Swift’s song “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
Standish also invoked Swift’s song “Blank Space” when she wrote: “As currently drafted, the complaint has a blank space—one that requires Braham to do more than write his name. And, upon consideration of the court’s explanation … Braham may discover that mere pleading BandAids will not fix the bullet holes in his case. At least for the moment, defendants have shaken off this lawsuit.”
Braham’s song had the lyrics, “Haters gone hate, playas gone play. Watch out for them fakers, they’ll fake you every day.” Swift’s song used these lyrics: “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. … And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake.”
Braham had claimed Swift had used a 22-word phrase from his song more than 70 times in “Shake It Off,” and that 92 percent of Swift’s lyrics in the song came from his song. Braham never identified the phrase, and Standish’s comparison of the lyrics failed to substantiate his claim.
Standish also found several Internet references that showed the phrases “Haters gone hate” and “Players gone play” predated Braham’s song.
