Lawsuit Alleging Copyright Infringement By Taylor Swift For “Shake It Off” Dropped

The lawsuit alleging Taylor Swift stole lyrics in her 2014 single, “Shake It Off,” has been dropped just weeks before it was set to go to trial.

According to news reports, a judge dismissed the case Monday following a joint request by lawyers for both Swift and Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, the songwriters who filed the copyright infringement lawsuit. The reasons for the request remain unknown and the filing reportedly did not include mention of a settlement between the parties.

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Hall and Butler first filed the lawsuit in 2017. The pair wrote the 2000 song “Playas Gon’ Play” by R&B group 3LW, which included Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams and Naturi Naughton. The song features the line, “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate.” The lawsuit argued it was those lines that Swift stole from to arrive at her chorus “the players gonna play, play, play, play, play” and “haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” in her 2014 song.

In 2018, the lawsuit had been dismissed by a judge that said the phrase “haters gonna hate” was too ordinary to be protected by copyright. The judge noted a number of songs and artists have included similar phrases in their work, including Fleetwood Mac in their song “Dreams.”

A year later, the dismissal was reversed and it was determined the case would go to trial.

Swift has been busy dealing with other issues as it relates to her upcoming Eras tour. In November, after the tour’s ticket pre-sale caused a disaster at Ticketmaster, the company canceled the public on-sale of further tickets.

Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled.

— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 17, 2022

On Monday, Ticketmaster emailed select fans with an “additional opportunity” to purchase tickets per a request made by Swift’s team.

DID ANYONE ELSE GET THIS FROM TICKETMASTER @taylornation13 @taylorswift13 @Ticketmaster #erastour #TaylorSwiftTheErasTour #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/QgEValO4yw

— Krista (@kristaferrara) December 12, 2022

“You were selected for this opportunity because you have been identified as a fan who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets,” Ticketmaster wrote in an email to some fans. “We apologize for the difficulties you may have experienced, and have been asked by Taylor’s team to create this additional opportunity for you to purchase tickets.”

Ticketmaster said the “opportunities” would be sent out before 12/23.