Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ lawsuit case dropped

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Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

A copyright lawsuit filed against Taylor Swift for her song “Shake It Off” has been dropped.

Lawyers from both sides filed the papers that dismissed the case on Monday (12 December), just a few weeks before the proceedings were set to begin in court.

The new papers for the lawsuit, which were originally filed in 2017 by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

There was no reference to a settlement for the lawsuit and lawyers reportedly didn’t respond to media requests for comment, as reported by outlets including The New York Times.

Taylor Swift has always denied the allegations of copyright infringement on the hit track, which appears on her fifth studio album 1989.

The case was originally filed in 2017, dropped and then appealed,and a judge ruled that it would go to trial, meaning the verdict would be decided by a jury.

The lawsuit claimed that “Shake It Off” included “substantial similarities” to “Playas Gon’ Play”, written for band 3LW in 2001 by Hall and Butler.

In 2018, the writers claimed that the chorus to “Shake If Off”, in which Swift sings “players gonna play, play, play, play, play” and “haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate”, infringed the copyright on their track.

Back in August, the singer issued a statement in defence of the song saying “the lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me”.

“The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made,” said Swift, claiming she didn’t know the song even existed.

“I recall hearing phrases about players play and haters hate stated together by other children while attending school in Wyomissing Hills, and in high school in Hendersonville,” Swift said in the declaration, using childhood stories to evidence her point.

The 33-year-old argued that these kinds of phrases had inspired her writing and that it was unreasonable for writers to claim common sayings.

“I also recall hearing similar player and hater phrases in many songs, films and other works prior to ‘Shake it Off,’” she said.

Her co-writers Martin and Shellback also previously denied hearing the song prior to the lawsuit.