Taylor Swift is shaking off the lawsuits she received for her chart-topping tune ‘Shake It Off,’ which she released in 2014. The song went 50 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, tying with Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.” However, in 2015, R&B artist Jesse Graham sued the singer for $42 million in copyright infringement. Graham alleged for ‘Shake It Off,’ the diva copied lyrics from his 2013 song ‘Haters Gone Hate.’ Graham’s song had lines such as “Haters gone hate, playas gone play.” Keep an eye out for the fakers; they’ll fool you daily.”
Meanwhile, Swift’s song’s chorus begins, “Because the players going to play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, “And the haters will hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,
“Her hook is identical to mine. The R&B singer first noticed the resemblance after seeing Swift perform the chart-topping tune on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “There wouldn’t be a song called ‘Shake It Off’ if I hadn’t written the song ‘Haters Gone Hate,'” Graham told the Daily News at the time.
Jesse Graham sued Taylor Swift.
Graham initially addressed Swift’s team, asking for a co-writer role on the song and a picture with the singer. However, after his request was denied, he adopted a legal route and launched a copyright complaint. Graham’s lawsuit was rejected shortly after, but that didn’t stop him from trying again.
He sued Swift for the fourth time in November 2019, but this time through his company, as he could no longer suit directly. Graham was accused of misbehavior and characterized as a “vexatious litigant,” a phrase used to describe someone pursuing legal action against people repeatedly in situations with no validity.
The fourth attempt was likewise rejected, prompting Graham to file an appeal with the Ninth Circuit last week. However, the court found Swift’s favor, citing Graham’s failure to explain why the earlier verdicts were discriminatory. Individuals classified as “vexatious litigants” may face significant obstacles in any legal action they seek under California law.
Lawsuit of Sean Hall and Nathan Butler
Although Swift’s team won the lawsuit against Graham, they still had another case to deal with. The group filed a lawsuit in 2017 after claiming that Swift’s key lyrics were lifted from their music, ‘Playas Gon Play,’ which they wrote in 2001. The artist is now involved in a legal dispute with songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler for the song ‘Shake It Off.’
“The playas gon play/Them haters going to hate,” they sang in their song. Their original case, like Graham’s, was dismissed, with judge Michael Fitzgerald reasoning that the lyrics about players playing and haters hating were not creative enough for copyright protection.
Swift’s legal team has repeatedly attempted to get the copyright complaint dismissed. However, they took their case to the Ninth Circuit, where it was successfully reinstated. Still, it has been unsuccessful, with Fitzgerald stating that Swift’s team has not provided any new arguments since the case began.
The investigation is still ongoing.
