Taylor Swift files motion in ‘Shake It Off’ copyright lawsuit

Taylor Swift has addressed a 2017 copyright lawsuit that claimed she stole the lyrics of her 2014 hit song Shake It Off.

Denying the copyright infringement, the Gorgeous crooner, 32, filed the documents in federal court yesterday (August 8) and claimed she’d ‘never heard’ the song she is accused of plagiarizing.

Swift was hit with plagiarism charges in 2017 by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who claim Swift cribbed her lyrics from their 2001 track, Playas Gon’ Play, performed by 3LW.

In the excerpts of motion obtained by Billboard, the Folklore singer unequivocally rejected the accusation and wrote that “the lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me”, before providing context around how they came to be included in the song.

She told the judge, “In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, in particular, unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, ‘clickbait’ reporting, public manipulation, and other forms of negative personal criticism which I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music.”

The lawsuit against Swift was initially dropped in 2018. However, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision in 2019.

Now, Swift’s lawyers are hoping the judge will grant a summary judgement and avoid a jury trial.