3/12/22, 1:36 PM Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright appeal - BBC News
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Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright
appeal
By Mark Savage
BBC Music Correspondent
1 day ago
GETTY IMAGES
Katy Perry's biggest hits include California Gurls, Firework, I Kissed A Girl and Dark Horse
Katy Perry will no longer have to pay $2 8m (£2 1m) to a rapper who said she
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3/12/22, 1:36 PM Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright appeal - BBC News
Katy Perry will no longer have to pay $2.8m (£2.1m) to a rapper who said she
stole his song on her hit Dark Horse.
Marcus Gray sued Perry in 2014, saying she had plagiarised an eight-note riff
from his track Joyful Noise.
A jury agreed and awarded him the $2.8m payout, but a judge later overturned
that verdict, saying the melody was not "particularly unique or rare".
Upholding that decision, an appeals court said the original verdict could have
suffocated musical creativity.
Katy Perry wins reversal of plagiarism verdict
Ed Sheeran sings Nina Simone during copyright case
In a 3-0 verdict, the court said Gray had been attempting to claim an
"improper monopoly" over conventional "musical building blocks" when he
first sued Perry in 2014.
"The trial record compels us to conclude that the ostinatos at issue here
consist entirely of commonplace musical elements, and that the similarities
between them do not arise out of an original combination of these elements,"
the new ruling reads.
"Allowing a copyright over this material would essentially amount to allowing
an improper monopoly over two-note pitch sequences or even the minor scale
itself, especially in light of the limited number of expressive choices available
when it comes to an eight-note repeated musical figure."
The ruling brings the eight-year trial to an end, barring an unlikely trip to the
US Supreme Court.
Sheeran similarities
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3/12/22, 1:36 PM Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright appeal - BBC News
JULIA QUENZLER
Ed Sheeran has been giving evidence at the High Court this week
The verdict will be read with interest by lawyers for Ed Sheeran, who is facing
similar claims of plagiarism in the UK High Court.
The star is also accused of stealing an eight-note phrase from an unknown
rapper, in this case the UK grime acts Sami Switch.
Switch, whose real name is Sami Chokri, claims that the "oh I, oh I, oh I" hook
of Sheeran's song Shape Of You has a "striking similarity" to the chorus of his
2015 single Oh Why.
Sheeran denies the allegation, and told the court he had never heard Chokri's
song before he made his claim.
Unusually, Sheeran and his co-writers Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac took pre-
emptive legal action, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed
Chokri's copyright.
Several months later, Mr Chokri and his co-writer Ross O'Donoghue issued
their own claim for "copyright infringement, damages and an account of
profits in relation to the alleged infringement".
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Giving evidence on Thursday, Steve Mac said the case was "not about money"
but "to clear my name".
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3/12/22, 1:36 PM Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright appeal - BBC News
He told the court that working with Sheeran on Shape Of You was an
"extraordinary experience", as the song came together "from scratch" at
"extraordinary speed".
"I had a headache at the end of the day," he said, adding: "It was the first time I
had written with anyone like this. It was incredible."
Andrew Sutcliffe QC, representing Mr Chokri and Mr O'Donoghue, suggested
the spontaneity was an illusion, because Sheeran had "already worked out how
he wanted this song to sound" and "already had lyrics and ideas which he was
able to deploy at speed".
Mr McCutcheon disagreed, adding: "The speed that [Sheeran] writes is
extraordinary to the point that we can write 26 songs in a week."
The trial, which is due to last three weeks, will hear from Mr Chokri next
Monday.
Dua Lipa and Sam Smith sued
Dua Lipa has yet to respond to claims she plagiarised her hit single Levitating
Claims of plagiarism are as old as pop music itself.
Even former Beatle George Harrison was found guilty of "subconsciously
copying" elements of his 1970 hit My Sweet Lord from The Chiffons' He's So
Fine, and ordered to pay that song's composers $1.6m ($8m in today's money).
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3/12/22, 1:36 PM Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright appeal - BBC News
There has been an upward trend in cases since the infamous Blurred Lines case
of 2015, in which Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were found guilty of
copying the "feel" of Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up, rather than directly
plagiarising musical phrases or lyrics.
Many cases are settled out of court, with composers quietly added to the
credits of songs behind the scenes.
The number of writers on Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's Uptown Funk
ballooned from six to 11 when The Gap Band noticed similarities to their song
Oops Upside Your Head.
Last year, Olivia Rodrigo added two members of Paramore to the writing
credits of Good 4 U, after fans started creating mash-ups of her hit and
Paramore's musically-similar Misery Business.
In the last week, both Dua Lipa and Sam Smith have been hit with copyright
lawsuits of their own.
Lipa has been sued twice over her song Levitating - the biggest-selling single
in the US last year.
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Songwriters L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer said the opening melody of
Levitating was a "duplicate" of their 1979 song Wiggle and Giggle All Night
and the 1980 song Don Diablo (they apparently didn't mind copying their own
material).
The Florida reggae band Artikal Sound System launched a separate legal
action, saying the chorus was ripped off from their 2017 song Live Your Life.
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3/12/22, 1:36 PM Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright appeal - BBC News
Sam Smith and Normani are also facing a trial over their duet Dancing With A
Stranger, with three songwriters saying that both the song and its video
contained "extraordinary similarities" to their song, also called Dancing With A
Stranger.
"In both songs, the title, hook, chorus, lyrics, and musical composition are all
the same - and are repeated throughout the song giving both songs their
identities," said Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi in a
complaint filed in Los Angeles.
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More on this story
Katy Perry wins reversal of Ed Sheeran sings Nina Simone
plagiarism verdict during copyright case
18 March 2020 3 days ago
Katy Perry copied Dark Horse
from Christian rapper
30 July 2019
Related Topics
Katy Perry Copyright Ed Sheeran Sam Smith Music
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3/12/22, 1:36 PM Katy Perry wins in Dark Horse copyright appeal - BBC News
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