Dec 12 (Reuters) – Two songwriters have dropped their lawsuit claiming Grammy-winning musician Taylor Swift copied their lyrics in her 2014 number-one hit “Shake It Off,” in keeping with court docket paperwork filed on Monday.
Sean Corridor and Nathan Butler advised a Los Angeles federal choose they may dismiss their 2017 case with prejudice, which suggests it can’t be refiled.
A trial within the case had been scheduled to start Jan. 17.
Monday’s court docket papers, filed collectively by attorneys for each Swift and the songwriters, didn’t say if there was a settlement. Representatives for the events didn’t instantly reply to requests for extra info.
In “Shake It Off,” Swift sings: “the gamers gonna play, play, play, play, play, and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
“Playas Gon’ Play,” written by Corridor and Butler, included the phrases “playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate.” The track, carried out by R&B group 3LW, was launched in 2001 and appeared on the Billboard Scorching 100 and MTV’s Whole Request Stay.
A choose dismissed the case in 2018, however a U.S. appeals court docket revived it in 2019.
Swift advised the court docket in August that she had by no means heard 3LW’s track earlier than writing “Shake It Off.” She stated she had heard the phrases “gamers gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” used generally to “categorical the concept one can or ought to shrug off negativity.”
Corridor and Butler stated that the lyrics had been too shut for his or her similarity to be a coincidence. That they had requested for an unspecified sum of money damages.
Reporting by Blake Brittain; Modifying by David Bario and Aurora Ellis
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