Haters Gonna Hate: Taylor Swift faces trial over copied ‘Shake It Off’ lyrics
Taylor Swift face a jury trial over accusations that she plagiarised the lyrics for Shake It Off from another song from the band 3LW’s.
In the 2001 hit Playas Gon’ Play, Swift is seen to copy the lines “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate”.
A US judge refused the pop superstar’s request to dismiss the case, saying a jury may find that the song did in fact copy the lyrics, and there are “substantial similarities”.
The judge had previously rejected the case, saying the lyrics were too “banal” to be copyrighted, citing a number of other songs that also included similar lyrics.
According to Billboard, the judge has now said: “Even though there are some noticeable differences between the works, there are also significant similarities in word usage and sequence/structure.”
“Although defendants’ experts strongly refute the implication that there are substantial similarities, the court is not inclined to overly credit their opinions here,” the judge said.
He added that Swift’s attorneys made “persuasive arguments” to have the case dismissed, but it was not enough.