Taylor Swift Gets Sued, Sued, Sued, Sued, Sued

CNN Money reports that singer Taylor Swift has been hit with a $42 million copyright infringement lawsuit over her hit song “Shake It Off.”  The plaintiff, Jessie Braham, whom the article characterizes as a “struggling out-of-work musician,” is claiming that Swift unlawfully copied the lyrics from his song “Haters Gone Hate,” which he copyrighted in 2013.  Braham’s song features the lyrics “Haters gone hate, playas gone play.  Watch out for them fakers, they'll fake you everyday,” while Swift’s lyrics are “The players gonna play, play, play, play, play.  And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.  And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake.”  In addition to the $42 million in damages from Swift, Braham is also seeking to have his name added as a songwriter to “Shake It Off.”

The suit is newly filed, and has not yet been litigated.  However, according to Michael Einhorn, “an expert witness who specializes in intellectual property cases… Swift's lawyers will have many defenses available to them.”  In Einhorn’s estimation, “This case is going nowhere.”  Whether or not Swift will be able to shake Braham off remains to be seen.  From CNN Money.

By Jana Zills (Taylor Swift RED tour 2013Uploaded by tm) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

By Jana Zills (Taylor Swift RED tour 2013Uploaded by tm) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.