“PLAYERS gonna play, play, play, play, play, and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
These lyrics in the famous Taylor Swift hit dance song Shake It Off became the contentious issue in what could have been a music copyright landmark case in the United States.
However, no final verdict came out of this case. A US court dismissed the copyright lawsuit filed against the Grammy-award winning pop singer-songwriter. The dismissal of the case came after the withdrawal of the case by the plaintiffs, Sean Hall and Nate Butler, according to a report by Billboard magazine.
It is not known whether Swift and plaintiffs had reached a settlement prior to the decision released by US District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald.
The court copyright battle in the US dragged for five years. It was supposed to settle the question: Can you claim copyright to certain lines of a song’s lyrics?
How the case started
In 2017, songwriters Hall and Butler filed a plagiarism case against Taylor Swift and her two co-writers, Max Martin and Shellback.
The complainants accused Swift of plagiarizing the dance-pop song lyrics from the song of girl group 3 Lil Women (3LW), Playas Gon’ Play, which they wrote in 2001.
The chorus line of the 3LW’s song goes: “The players gon’ play, them haters gon’ hate.”
Arguments presented
In a sworn affidavit, Taylor Swift had said: “The lyrics to Shake It Off were entirely mine.” She said she had never heard of the song nor the group before writing Shake It Off.
Swift’s lawyers argued that the phrases “players play” and “haters hate” were commonly used by other children.
They said 3LW’s composers are not the original creators of the phrase nor are they the first people to use the phrase. Thirteen other songs had similar lyrics, including Fleetwood Mac’s “Dream” and Notorious B.I.G. “Playa Hater.”
“I recall hearing phrases about players play and haters hate stated together by other children while attending school in Wyomissing Hills and in high school in Hendersonville,” Swift said.
Butler and Hall insisted they coined the phrase. They argued that while the phrase “may seem like common parlance today,” it was “completely and unique” they wrote the song.
Swift’s song credits and other plagiarism case
The lawsuit filed by Hall and Butler wasn’t Swift’s first copyright infringement case.
Singer Jesse Braham also accused her of copying the lyrics of his song ‘Haters Gonna Hate.’ However, the case was dismissed for lack of factual evidence.
Despite these accusations, Swift was well-known for giving credit where it is due and vice-versa.
In 2017, she gave a writing credit for the song Look What You Made Me Do to British pop band Right Said Fred. The melody from the band’s 1997 song I’m Too Sexy was incorporated in the ‘reputation’ album single.
Swift also revealed in 2016 that she co-written Rihanna’s song This Is What You Came For with ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris.
American actress-singer Olivia Rodrigo, on the other hand, credited Swift as co-writer to hit song Deja Vu for its similarities with Cruel Summer.
In the previous years, Swift has been faithful in acknowledging people who helped devise her songs, including Liz Rose, Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, and British actor and Swift’s boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
The future of Shake It Off
1989’s single Shake It Off debuted top in the United States and 2nd in the United Kingdom. During its first week, the song sold 544,000 copies. Currently, the song has reached more than 900 million streams on Spotify and 3.2 billion views on Youtube.
Shake It Off is included in Swift’s fifth studio album “1989.” Since the copyright suit has been sacked, the singer-songwriter can now re-record the much-anticipated synth-pop album.
