Taylor Swift Faces ‘Haters’ and ‘Playas’ in ‘Shake It Off’ Trial

Taylor Swift failed to convince a federal trial court in California that it should dismiss a copyright infringement suit involving her use of “playas” and “haters” in her hit pop song, “Shake It Off.”

The opinion by Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied summary judgment for Taylor. He said that factual disputes in the case warrant a trial.

Sean Hall claims ‘Shake It Off’ infringes the musical composition copyright in the 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play.”

Hall said that the lyrics, “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” in the chorus of Swift’s 2014 hit ripped off “Playas Gon’ Play.” That song was performed by the group 3LW, which features the lyrics, “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate.”

Swift claims that the phrases are in the public domain. But Hall said that their sequence and structure in “Playas” were original and subject to copyright protection.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has already said in this case that the lyrics in “Playas” and their sequencing are sufficiently original to warrant copyright protection and the court here accepted that conclusion.

But Swift said that even if the elements of “Playas” are protectable, they aren’t similar to her song. Although Swift presented expert testimony supporting her position, the court said objective similarities exist between the works and the court couldn’t conclude"that no reasonable juror could find substantial similarity of lyrical phrasing, word arrangement, or poetic structured between the two works.”

Although Swift made “a strong closing argument for a jury,” she didn’t show that there were no genuine issues of triable fact concerning similarity between the two songs and therefore isn’t entitled to summary judgment, the court said.

Gerard Fox Law PC represented Hall. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP represented Swift.

The case is Hall v. Swift, C.D. Cal., No. 17-6882-MWF (ASx), 12/9/21.