A US copyright lawsuit alleging that Taylor Swift stole lyrics to her hit song Shake It Off has been dismissed by a judge. It comes just over a month before the case was set to go to trial on January 17.
The case was brought by songwriters Sean Hall and Nate Butler who claimed that Swift lifted lyrics for her song from their own Playas Gon’ Play, performed by US girl group 3LW. The multi-award winning singer said she had drawn from her own experiences and "commonly used phrases and comments" she had heard throughout her life for the track and that the lyrics had been written "entirely by me".
In a filing made on Monday and obtained by the PA news agency, judge Michael Fitzgerald dismissed the lawsuit "in its entirety". The filing read: "Pursuant to the parties’ Stipulation, this action is hereby dismissed, in its entirety and with prejudice, Plaintiffs and Defendants to bear their respective attorney’s fees and costs."
Swift, 36, previously said she had "never heard" of the song Playas Gon’ Play or 3LW, prior to the lawsuit. "The lyrics to Shake It Off were written entirely by me," she said, in a sworn declaration also obtained by PA.
"Shake It Off is about independence and 'shaking off' negative personal criticism through music and dance. In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, in particular, unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, 'clickbait' reporting, public manipulation, and other forms of negative personal criticism which I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music.
"Prior to writing Shake It Off I had heard the phrases 'players gonna play' and 'haters gonna hate' uttered countless times to express the idea that one can or should shrug off negativity. Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song Playas Gon’ Play or the group 3LW."
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