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Playas songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler alleged in a 2017 complaint that they were the first artists to combine the phrases “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate”.
District Judge Michael Fitzgerald initially dismissed the suit in 2018, holding that Hall and Butler failed to show their lyrics were sufficiently original and creative to be the basis of a copyright claim, given that “players, haters, and player haters received substantial pop culture attention.” The 9th U.S.
Even Hall and Butler, the brief argued, conceded that “Players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” are public domain phrases, so Swift can’t be liable merely for using the words.
In Thursday’s ruling, Fitzgerald agreed that a jury must decide whether Shake It Off is substantially similar to Playas.
The judge did say that Swift and her lawyers had made out “a strong closing argument for a jury,” and that defense experts had offered “persuasive arguments” about musical and literary distinctions between Playas and Shake It Off.
Hall and Butler are represented by Marina Bogorad of Gerard Fox Law, who told me, with a laugh, that she had to look up the word “tautophrase” before writing her brief opposing Swift’s summary judgment motion.
Bogorad said her side still needs to obtain discovery about Swift’s exposure to the song her clients wrote.
But if the case does go to trial, she said, she intends to argue that Swift and her co-defendants engaged in cultural appropriation.
Opinions expressed are those of the author.
A Dartmouth college graduate, she has worked as a journalist in New York covering the legal industry and the law for more than three decades.
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