Taylor Swift (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty)
There can be no copyright protection in ‘playas, they gonna play and haters, they gonna hate,’ because it would impermissibly monopolize the idea that players will play and haters will hate. …
Plaintiffs’ claim to being the only ones in the world who can refer to players playing and haters hating is frivolous. …
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Providing a copyright monopoly in the phrase would prevent others from sharing the idea that players play and haters hate.
— Peter J. Anderson, an attorney for singer Taylor Swift,
in a fantastically written motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, songwriters who wrote “Playas Gon’ Play” for the girl group 3LW, claiming that Swift had infringed upon their lyrics (lyrics that Anderson referred to as “public domain cliches” in his motion). The pop superstar previously defeated a similar lawsuit, and there, the judge concluded her opinion with some of Swift’s own lyrics.
(Flip to the next page to check out this amazing motion.)
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Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.