A US lawsuit alleging that Taylor Swift stole lyrics for her hit song Shake It Off has been dismissed by a judge. Songwriters Sean Hall and Nate Butler had claimed the pop star lifted lyrics in her song’s chorus from their own hit Playas Gon’ Play. Swift denied being aware of the song prior to the lawsuit.
However, court filings show a judge dismissed the copyright lawsuit “in its entirety” on Monday. The case had been due to go to trial on 17 January. Swift 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”.
US trade publication Variety reported the two parties had “reached an agreement” and jointly asked for the case to be dismissed. The terms of the settlement were not clear; however, the song’s writing credits remain the same at the time of writing.
Playas Gon’ Play, the song written by Hall and Butler, was released in 2000 and performed by US girl group 3LW. Both that song and Shake It Off feature variations of the phrases “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate”. The judge, Michael Fitzgerald, had previously rejected the case, saying the lyrics were too “banal” to be copyrighted.
