Member-only story
Taylor Swift will stand trial for a jury over allegations that some of her song lyrics Shake It Off was copied from another song. The first lawsuit in 2018 was dismissed, but now after the appeal is received, the trial will start again.
The saga surrounding Taylor Swift’s singing does not seem to be over: an American judge has rejected Swift’s request to dismiss the case, ruling that a jury may determine that her 2014 hit copied his lyrics from the 2001 song ‘Playas Gon’ Play performed by a trio of girls called 3LW.
The two tracks include variations of the phrases “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate.” The judge has previously dismissed the case, saying the texts are too “banal” to be protected by copyright. In its original ruling, the district judge cited 13 previous songs that featured similar expressions, including the song Playa Hater by The Notorious B.I.G.
“In the early 2000s, popular culture made a lot of use of the terms’ players’ and ‘haters,’ so it was not uncommon to compose phrases like’ players going to play ‘and’ haters’ going to hate. ‘ Creative from “runners gonna run,” or “swimmers gonna swim,” the judge wrote.
