Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” Copyright Lawsuit Dismissed
By Kara Johnson
A copyright lawsuit filed against Taylor Swift has been dismissed by the federal judge in California. Swift was facing legal action from two songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, the writers for the 2001 hit “Playas Gon Play” sung by 3LW.
Hall and Butler claimed to have heard similarities between the two songs, claiming Swift had copied them in her 2014 hit song “Shake It Off”. The lyrics to “Plays Gon Play” include, “Playas, they gonna play/ And haters, they gonna hate.” Swift’s 2014 chorus goes: “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.” Do they appear to be similar?
According to the U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald, they aren’t similar enough. The lawsuit has been dismissed but the judge is allowing the plaintiffs to amend their complaints with more similarities in the two songs by February 26. According to a spokesperson for Swift, the lawsuit was just a money grab, and they simply do not have a case.
We are thankful the lawsuit has been dismissed and Swift can now move on to bigger and better things, like her reputation stadium tour, kicking off in May. Here’s hoping everything will get dismissed and the plaintiffs won’t see anything wrong with ‘Shake It Off” as a whole.
What do you think? Are the two songs similar? Are they different? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments below. We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.