On Sept. 18, 2017, Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who wrote “Playas Gon’ Play,” sued Taylor Swift for copyright infringement alleging that her hit song “Shake It Off” copied a couple short lines of lyrics from their song. The trial court described Hall and Butler’s allegations as follows:

Hall and Butler are co-authors and copyright owners of the musical composition titled Playas Gon’ Play. 3LW, an all-girl group that gained popularity in the early 2000s, performed Playas Gon’ Play and released it to the public in May 2001. Playas Gon’ Play peaked at number 81 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and, on March 7, 2001, appeared as the number-seven video on TRL, a popular MTV music-video-request show at the time. 3LW also performed Playas Gon’ Play several times on national television, including on Regis & Kelly, MTV, and Fox Family. The album that Playas Gon’ Play appeared on—3LW, 3LW’s self-titled debut album—was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, meaning that more than 1,000,000 units were sold.

The chorus of Playas Gon’ Play consists of the following lyrics: “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate / Ballers, they gonna ball / Shot callers, they gonna call / That ain’t got nothin’ to do / With me and you / That’s the way it is / That’s the way it is.” Plaintiffs acknowledge that the concepts of players / playas, haters, and player / playa haters were already firmly rooted in pop culture at the time Playas Gon’ Play was released, but allege that “[t]he combination of playas/players playing along with hatas/haters hating … was completely original and unique” when the song was released in 2001.

Alleged infringement

Hall: “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate…”

Swift: “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate…”

In 2014, Swift, Sandberg, and Schuster co-authored the musical combination titled Shake it Off. Swift performed and recorded the song, and it was released to the public in August 2014. (Id.). Shake it Off debuted at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and remained on the chart for 50 consecutive weeks. More than 9,000,000 copies of Shake it Off have been sold, and more than 6,000,000 copies of Swift’s album 1989—the album featuring Shake it Off—have been sold. The chorus of Shake it Off contains the following lyrics: “ ‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate / Baby I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake / Shake it off / Shake it off / Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break, break, break / And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake / Baby I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake / Shake it off / Shake it off.” Plaintiff alleges that Sony and Kobalt co-own publishing rights in Shake it Off, Big Machine is Swift’s record label and released Shake it Off, and Universal distributes Shake it Off. Plaintiff asserts a single claim of copyright infringement against all Defendants, premised upon the lyrical similarities between Playas Gon’ Play and Shake it Off.

Trial court: Judge Michael Fitzgerald dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. The trial court ruled that Hall and Bulter’s song’s “short phrase—“Playas, they gonna play/And haters, they gonna hate” lacked originality (a minimal level of creativity) and was not copyrightable. Looking at this case from a combination-of-unprotected-elements perspective, Plaintiffs’ combination of “playas, they gonna play” and “haters, they gonna hate”—two elements that would not have been subject to copyright protection on their own—is not entitled to protection.

Ninth Circuit: The Ninth Circuit reversed the trial court’s dismissal. In a short, unpublished decision, the panel of the court (Judges Hurwitz, Owens, and Lee) ruled that “[e]ven taking into account the matters of which the district court took judicial notice, Hall’s complaint still plausibly alleged originality.”

Documents

Ninth Circuit Decision (Dec. 5, 2019) amending earlier decision (Oct. 28, 2019)

Trial Court Decision (Feb. 13, 2018)

Complaint by Sean Hall v. Taylor Swift (Sept. 18, 2017)

Songs

Plaintiffs: Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, “Playas Gon’ Play” (2001)

Defendant: Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off” (2014)

Attorneys

Gerard Fox for Sean Hall

Peter J. Anderson for Taylor Swift