Judge dismisses Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" lawsuit

February 14, 2018

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Taylor Swift, which accused her of copyright infringement for her boppy hit “Shake It Off,” as Variety reports.

As previously reported, Swift was hit by a copyright lawsuit from songwriters Sean Hall and Nate Butler over 2014's “Shake It Off,” accusing her of borrowing too much from 2001’s “Playas Gon’ Play,” which they had written for R&B act 3LW.

However, in his ruling, Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald said that using the phrases “playas gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” does not warrant copyright infringement.

“By 2001, American popular culture was heavily steeped in the concepts of players, haters and player haters,” Fitzgerald said, Variety reports. “The concept of actors acting in accordance with their essential nature is not at all creative; it is banal.”

The main lyrics in question in Swift’s song were:

Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off

And here were 3LW's lyrics:

Playas, they gonna play
And haters, they gonna hate
Ballers, they gonna ball
Shot callers, they gonna call

Give the songs a listen below so you can hear them for yourself:

Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”