Just weeks after a federal judge ordered Taylor Swift to stand trial over a copyright infringement lawsuit for “Shake It Off,” the singer has requested that the court toss the ruling.
The claim argues that Swift’s 2014 hit lifted elements from 3LW’s 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play.”
Rolling Stone reported on Monday that Swift filed a motion on Dec. 23, asking Judge Michael Fitzgerald to reconsider his decision.
The new motion states that “both works use versions of two short public domain phrases — “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate”— that are free for everyone to use”. “
Meanwhile, Gerard Fox, a lawyer representing Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, the pair of songwriters who wrote 3LW’s 2001 track, told Rolling Stone in a statement that they feel there is no basis for reconsideration, and that this is just a music mogul and her machine trying to deny his clients justice by outspending a fellow lower-income artist.
The move arrives less than three weeks after the judge said there were “enough objective similarities” between the two tracks for the case to move forward.
