Taylor Swift has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit in which she is accused of stealing lyrics for her hit song “Shake It Off.”
The singer was sued by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler in 2017, with them accusing Swift of copying their 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play” by 3LW featuring Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, and Naturi Naughton.
They alleged Taylor Swift stole the lyrics from their 3LW song, which features the line, “Playas, they gon’ play and haters, they gonna hate”, with the chorus of “Shake It Off.”
The song is taken from 3LW’s debut album 3LW which featured production by rap legends Full Force The Trackmasters, in addition to a guest appearance from Nas.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald refused Swift’s request to throw out the case. He decided that he could not dismiss the case himself and ordered the issue to be resolved in a jury trial.
According to Billboard, Swift’s attorney Peter Anderson filed a motion on December 23rd to dismiss the legal action once again, calling the decision “unprecedented.”
“Plaintiffs could sue everyone who writes, sings, or publicly says ‘players gonna play’ and ‘haters gonna hate,'” Anderson wrote in the motion. “To permit that is unprecedented and cheats the public domain.”
The copyright infringement case was originally dismissed by Judge Fitzgerald in 2018, as he believed the lyrics were “short phrases that lack the modicum of originality and creativity required for copyright protection.”
However, a federal appeals court overturned the ruling the following year, deciding that “playas gon’ play” was creative enough for copyright protection.
