Swift’s Haters gonna Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate, and Sue

As often as Taylor Swift writes a song about an ex, she’s involved in lawsuits as either a plaintiff or defendant just as often. Her most recent legal foray requires her to defend her popular pop anthem “Shake it Off” against misappropriation of lyrics. Just this past February, Swift trademarked the phrases “This Sick Beat; Party Like It’s 1989; Cause We Never Go Out Of Style; Could Show You Incredible Things,” and “Nice To Meet You, Where You Been?”

Jesse Braham, known as Jesse Graham as a performer, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Monday, November 2, claiming Swift’s hit contains “the same hook as [his].” Graham’s song titled “Haters Gonna Hate” merely contains the phrase “haters gonna hate, players gonna play.” Swift’s song, on the other hand, contains the phrases “cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”

Braham is suing for $42 million dollars and is also seeking credit as a writer of the hit. Aside from those two phrases, the songs lack any other definitive similarities.

Of course, some listeners may notice the apparent frivolity of this claim. Not only are the phrases different from each other; another song pre-dating Braham’s by a pop group in 2001 uses the phrases at issue. 3LW’s “Playas Gonna Play” even uses the alleged phrases to title their chart-topping hit. As a result, it is highly unlikely that Graham will successfully claim copyright infringement since it is clear from previous uses of the phrase in pop hits that he was not the originator of such claims.

In fact, one can only hope the court handling this case will rule on the frivolity of this suit. Artists such as Will Smith, 3LW, Notorious B.I.G., R. Kelly, Chris Brown, along with many others, have used either “Players” and/or “Haters” in their hits as a part of a phrase. Some of these songs date to the mid 1990’s, which only solidifies the fact that Graham cannot possibly claim ownership of the phrases. Nevertheless, the legal escapades for T. Swift continue to spiral as her fame proliferates throughout the world. This is not the first, and definitely not the last, time Swift will face allegations.

Braham, who filed the suit pro-se, also asked for a waiver of filing fees since he is unemployed. Hopefully, the deciding court will see this attempt at a struggling artists’ claim to fame for what it truly is: a trivial suit to rattle some cages and make headlines.

By: Samantha Kelley, Associate Editor of Sports and Entertainment

photo credit: Bê Swifty via flickr.com cc

Sources Used:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-03/taylor-swift-sued-for-allegedly-copying-lyrics-shake-it-off/6907818

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/02/04/taylor-swift-has-trademarked-the-phrase-this-sick-beat/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/taylor-swift-shake-it-off-lawsuit_56377477e4b00aa54a4eb36a