{"id":1948,"date":"2018-03-05T21:21:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T02:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1948"},"modified":"2023-07-25T11:44:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:44:57","slug":"haters-gonna-hate-taylor-swift-wins-copyright-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2018\/03\/haters-gonna-hate-taylor-swift-wins-copyright-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Haters Gonna Hate: Taylor Swift Wins Copyright Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Friday, a California federal judge, Judge Fitzgerald, handed a win to Taylor Swift and her team when\u00a0he dismissed a copyright suit against the singer with prejudice<\/a>. This follows from\u00a0a ruling in mid-February<\/a>, where the judge granted a motion to dismiss for Swift’s team, but giving plaintiffs Sean Hall and Nathan Butler one chance to amend their complaint by February 26th. When the plaintiffs\u00a0chose not to amend\u00a0the complaint and instead asked the judge to dismiss the suit without prejudice, the\u00a0judge granted Swift’s request\u00a0to dismiss the case with prejudice.<\/p>\n

The core issue of the case is to what extent can the lyrics of a song be protectable.\u00a0The plaintiffs, Hall and Butler, wrote a song in 2001 called “Playas’ Gon’ Play” that was a part of an album that got platinum certification. The complaint<\/a>\u00a0does not make any allegation of Swift’s team copying the underlying musical composition. Instead,\u00a0the plaintiffs alleged\u00a0that the lyrics “Playas, they gonna play\/ And Haters, they gonna hate” in the song “Playas’ Gon’ Play” is sufficiently similar to Swift’s lyrics, “[T]he players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” from her 2014 hit “Shake It Off.”\u00a0The plaintiffs argued\u00a0that despite other artists using phrases similar to the one at issue in this case, such as “playa haters hate” or “haters hate”, their lyrical combination of “playas, they gonna play\/ And Haters, they gonna hate” was original unique work and thus deserved protection.<\/p>\n

It is not disputed<\/a>\u00a0that Hall and Bulter owned the song, or if Taylor Swift and her team had access to the song.\u00a0 Nevertheless,\u00a0the judge ruled<\/a>\u00a0that the lyrics in this case do not get protection under the Copyright Act. First, J<\/a>udge Fitzgerald found<\/a>\u00a0that by 2001, American pop culture had already pushed the concepts of players and haters to the forefront, such that they were not unique creations but rather general archetypes of characters. Secondly,\u00a0he said<\/a>\u00a0“the concept of actors acting in accordance with their essential nature is not at all creative; it is banal.” Thus, because players by their very definition are “going to play”, stating that they will be “playing” in a song lacks the originality and creativity\u00a0required for copyright protection. Nevertheless, the judge ruled that the plaintiffs get one more chance to amend the complaints, before dismissing the case.<\/p>\n

When the songwriters\u00a0refused to amend\u00a0the complaint, Swift’s team\u00a0asked the judge\u00a0to dismiss the case with prejudice, arguing that a voluntary dismissal or a dismissal without prejudice would allow for the plaintiffs to refile or appeal the case.\u00a0Fitzgerald agreed\u00a0and dismissed the case with prejudice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Adele Zhang is the Online Content Chair and an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2020).<\/em><\/p>\n

Image: Taylor Swift<\/a> by Eva Rinaldi<\/a> is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Friday, a California federal judge, Judge Fitzgerald, handed a win to Taylor Swift and her team when\u00a0he dismissed a copyright suit against the singer with prejudice. This follows from\u00a0a ruling in mid-February, where the judge granted a motion to dismiss for Swift’s team, but giving plaintiffs Sean Hall and Nathan Butler one chance to 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