In the lawsuit, which was first filed in 2017 by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, Taylor was accused of plagiarizing 2001's 'Playas Gon' Play' by the U.S. pop trio 3LW.
- Dec 13, 2022
AceShowbiz - Taylor Swift can now breathe a sigh of relief. After five years of litigation, the Grammy-winning artist has been dismissed from a copyright infringement lawsuit over her hit "Shake It Off".
The decision was made on Monday, December 12, just one day before Taylor turned 33. This came after the singer and songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler reportedly asked a judge to "[dimiss] this action in its entirety."
Taylor, Sean and Nathan reached the agreement to end the case before they were set to go to trial on January 17. However, the terms of the settlement were unclear from the filings.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2017 before it was dropped in the following year. It was later resurrected by an appeals panel in 2019. In December 2021 a judge ruled the case should be decided by a jury.
In the complaint, Taylor was accused of plagiarizing 2001's "Playas Gon' Play" by the U.S. pop trio 3LW. The "All Too Well" hitmaker, however, insisted that the lyrics to "Shake It Off" were "written entirely by me," adding that she "had never heard the song 'Playas Gon' Play' and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW."
"The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made," she added. "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."
The musician argued that the phrases "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" were widespread and used throughout her childhood. She also highlighted how there have been numerous uses of the phrase in "many songs, films, and other works," and referenced a 2013 performance in which she wore a T-shirt with the term "haters gonna hate."
