Update, December 12: Taylor Swift gets to keep cruisin’ — right past her copyright trial over “Shake It Off.†Lawyers for the writers of 3LW’s song “Playas Gon’ Play†and for Swift jointly filed to dismiss the lawsuit on December 12, Billboard reports, after the writers previously claimed Swift cribbed her hook from their song. It’s unclear whether the teams reached a settlement or if the two writers, Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, will now be credited on “Shake It Off.†Vulture has reached out to lawyers on both sides for comment. The trial had originally been scheduled to begin in January, capping off a legal battle that began in 2017. Now, maybe the decision will clear the way for 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Original story from September 13, 2022 follows.
Litigators gonna litigate-gate-gate-gate-gate. The copyright case against Taylor Swift over her song “Shake It Off†is officially set to go to trial, Rolling Stone reports. In August, Swift’s team made one last effort to dismiss the case, which was brought by the writers of the 2000 song “Playas Gon’ Play,†by the girl group 3LW. The case centers on similarities between that song’s lyrics, “playas, they gonna play,†and “haters, they gonna hate†and similar lines in “Shake It Off,†released 14 years later. “I still think there’s a genuine issue of material fact in part because of the expert opinion,†said Michael W. Fitzgerald, the judge in the case, during a Los Angeles hearing on September 12. Swift’s team has argued that the writers of “Playas Gon’ Play,†Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, did not “invent†the phrases, on top of Swift saying she had not heard the song before the lawsuit. Hall and Butler said the lines were “completely original and unique†at the time. After Hall and Butler first brought the case in 2017, Fitzgerald initially dismissed it, before the writers appealed and a panel of judges said the case should be brought back in 2019. A trial is now set for January 17, 2023.