Taylor Swift Copyright Accusers Drop "Shake It Off" Lawsuit

Taylor Swift is shaking off her legal woes.

A copyright lawsuit involving the Grammy winner's "Shake It Off" hit song has been dropped weeks before it was set to go to trial, according to court documents obtained by E! News. Attorneys for both Swift and the songwriters behind the suit, Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, jointly filed a stipulation on Dec. 12 in California asking the court for an order "dismissing this action in its entirety," per the docs.

That same day, U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald ordered that the lawsuit was officially dismissed, in its entirety and with prejudice, with both parties bearing their respective attorney's fees and court costs, the docs state. Before the deal, a trial had been scheduled to kick off in January 2023.

The original copyright lawsuit was filed in 2017 alleged that Swift, 33, had lifted lyrics for her smash hit about "players" and haters" from the 2000 3LW song "Playas Gon' Play." Per court documents obtained by E! News, Swift refuted the accusation in an August 2022 declaration, writing, "The lyrics to 'Shake It Off' were written entirely by me."

"Until learning about Plaintiffs' claim in 2017, I had never heard the song 'Playas Gon' Play' and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW,'" she continued. "The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made."

In the declaration, Swift explained she was unaware of the R&B girl group—originally comprised of Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams and Naturi Naughton—because she "almost exclusively" listened to country music during peak of their success and wasn't allowed to watch MTV's TRL program, which aired 3LW's music videos, until she was 13 years old.

Furthermore, the "Anti-Hero" singer defended her thought process that "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" were common phrases "uttered countless times" by many others, including her friends at school, as well as country singer Eric Church in his 2014 song "The Outsiders." She also noted in her declaration that she wore a shirt from Urban Outfitter with the phrase "haters gonna hate" while performing at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards—a year before she penned "Shake It Off."

This isn't the first time Swift has found herself in a legal battle over her "Shake It Off" track. Back in 2015, R&B singer Jessie Braham sued her for $42 million, claiming the superstar plagiarized the lyrics from his song "Haters Gone Hate."

"Her hook is the same hook as mine," he told the New York Daily News at the time, claiming Swift uses it about 72 times in her song. "If I didn't write the song 'Haters Gone Hate,' there wouldn't be a song called 'Shake It Off.'" 

However, a clever California judge ruled that he did not have enough factual evidence to support his case and dismissed the lawsuit using lyrics from several of Swift's hits, including "Blank Space," "Bad Blood," "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and, yes, "Shake It Off," to do so.

"At present, the Court is not saying that Braham can never, ever, ever get his case back in court," the judge wrote in 2015, according to CNN. "But, for now, we have got problems, and the Court is not sure Braham can solve them."

The judge continued, "As currently drafted, the Complaint has a blank space—one that requires Braham to do more than write his name. And, upon consideration of the Court's explanation ... Braham may discover that mere pleading BandAids will not fix the bullet holes in his case. At least for the moment, Defendants have shaken off this lawsuit."

Taylor Swift Copyright Accusers Drop "Shake It Off" Lawsuit - E! Online - CA (eonline.com)