A copyright infringement lawsuit relating to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off has been dismissed.
Back in September 2017, songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler launched legal action against the popstar, alleging the hit track copies the chorus of their 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play,” – which they penned for girl group 3LW.
However, Swift repeatedly denied the accusations, arguing that similar phrases in both songs – “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” – were both common and popular.
After the lawsuit rumbled on for over five years, Hall and Butler reached an agreement with Swift’s lawyers on Monday in which they agreed to “(dismiss) this action in its entirety.”
A trial had been set to begin in January. According to editors at Variety, terms of the settlement remain “unclear,” with no details on financial aspects available.
A representative for Swift has not yet commented on the decision.
In August, the 32-year-old made a sworn declaration to the judge in the case in which she maintained that she had never heard Playas Gon’ Play before.
“The lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me,” she asserted. “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.”