Pop singer Taylor Swift has had a copyright allegation against her dropped. The dispute involved her 2014 hit “Shake It Off.”
On Monday, December 12, 2022, Sean Hall and Nathan Butler dismissed their lawsuit against Taylor Swift that they initiated in 2017. They dismissed their lawsuit with prejudice. Hence, Hall and Butler will not be able to refile the lawsuit. The public filings for the dismissal of the lawsuit do not disclose whether there was a settlement between the two songwriters and Taylor Swift.
In September, 2017, Hall and Butler accused Taylor Swift of copying lyrics that the duo wrote in the song “Playas Gon’ Play” that was released in 2001 and appeared on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was performed by R&B group 3LW. Hall and Butler alleged that the lyrics “the players gonna play, play, play, play, play, and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” in “Shake It Off” were copied from “playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate” in “Playas Gon’ Play.”
In August 2022, Taylor Swift filed a sworn declaration in the federal court in the United States that she had never heard of “Playas Gon’ Play” prior to writing “Shake It Off.”
For more information, see here.