Taylor Swift Will Go To Trial In Copyright Case Against Her For “Shake It Off”

Taylor Swift couldn’t “shake off” a copyright infringement case over her 2014 song “Shake It Off” as her request to dismiss it was denied.

 Sean Hall and Nate Butler wrote the 2001 3LW song, “Playas Gon’ Play” and say that Swift, Max Martin, and Shellback copied lyrics when writing “Shake It Off”. The case will go to trial at some point in the future.   Those named as defendants in the case are writers Swift, Max Martin, and Shellback as well as Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and Swift’s former label, Big Machine.

The case points to similarities in the lyrics and structure, in particular the phrases from 3LW’s song such as “playas, they gon’ play” (“’cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play” in Swift’s tune) followed by “and haters they gonna hate” (“and haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” in “Shake It Off”).