For years now, Taylor Swift has been dealing with a lawsuit regarding her song “Shake It Off.” In 2017, songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler filed a lawsuit accusing Taylor Swift of copyright infringement, insisting the “Shake It Off” chorus copies 3LW’s “Playas Gonna Hate” (which they wrote). That song features the lines, “Playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate.”
In 2018, the case was dismissed, but the case was reopened in 2020. In late 2021, Swift again filed to have the case dismissed, but now, it has been decided that she will indeed have to stand trial in the copyright case.
Rolling Stone reports that during a hearing in downtown Los Angeles yesterday (September 12), US District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald said, “The motion for reconsideration is denied. I don’t think it meets the standard for reconsideration, and even if it did, and I was approaching it again on the merits, I still think there’s a genuine issue of material fact in part because of the expert opinion.”
One of Swift and her co-defendants’ lawyers asked if he could give an oral argument before Judge Fitzgerald issued his written ruling, but was denied, with Fitzgerald saying, “I apologize there’s been the delay, but I have no intention of having oral argument.” He also noted he is “not moving the trial date” from January 17, 2023.
