According to stereogum.com the copyright lawsuit involving Taylor Swift’s song “Shake It Off” has been dropped weeks before it was to go to trial. Billboard stated that the attorneys for both Swift and the songwriters have asked the judge to dismiss the case.
Back in 2017 Sean Hall and Nathan Butler claimed Swift stole the “Shake It Off” lyrics from their song “Playas Gon’ Play” which Hall and Butler wrote for 3LW back in 2001. The lawsuit claimed that Swift lifted the line “playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate” from the song in the chorus of “Shake It Off,” which goes: “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
Originally the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in 2018 but an appeals panel resurrected the case last year and in December a judge ruled that it would move to a jury trial. In August, Swift responded to the plagiarism claims in a a statement. In Swift‘s defense, she argued that she had not heard “Playas Gon’ Play” until 2017 when the lawsuit was filed.
“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. These phrases were akin to other commonly used sayings like ‘don’t hate the playa, hate the game,’ ‘take a chill pill,’ and ‘say it, don’t spray it.’” said Swift
The “Shake It Off” trial was going to begin in January. It remains unclear if Swift and the accusers have reached an outside settlement.
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