Taylor Swift rep dismisses revived “Shake It Off” lawsuit: “The true writers will prevail again”
Getty Images for dcp via ABC/Emma McIntyre/AMA2018Following the news that a panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had revived a lawsuit over Taylor Swift’s hit “Shake It Off,” a rep for the superstar is saying it’s no big deal.
As previously reported, songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler initially sued Taylor in 2017, claiming that her 2014 hit ripped off the lyrics of their 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play,” which was recorded by 3LW.
The case was dismissed in 2018 because the lyrics referring to “playas gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” were judged to be too short, and not original enough, to be copyrighted. But now, the Court of Appeals has sent the case back to a U.S. District Court.
Rolling Stone reports that in a statement, Hall said the court had “sided unanimously with us,” and claimed the case is “giving voice to all of those creatives who can’t afford to stand up and protect their work in the face of well-financed Goliaths.”
But in a statement to ABC Audio, Taylor’s rep said, “The court did not unanimously side in their favor. The court sent the case back to the lower court.”
The rep added, “These men are not the originators, or creators of [these] common phrases…they did not invent these common phrases, nor are they the first to use them in a song. We are confident the true writers of ‘Shake It Off’ will prevail again.”
“Their claim is not a crusade for all creatives,” the rep concluded. “It is a crusade for Mr. Hall’s bank account.”
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