Copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' dropped

Taylor Swift and two songwriters have mended their differences over the lyrics of her hit song ‘Shake It Off’ as they drop the lawsuit over copyright infringement. The three reached an agreement to end the lawsuit after it went public five years ago.

The two songwriters, Nathan Butler and Sean Hall have asked for a dismissal of the case. The trial on the same was scheduled to begin next month. They asked a judge to “[dimiss] this action in its entirety.”

The terms of the settlement have not been declared. Also, the credits to the song remain the same – Taylor Swift and original co-writers Max Martin and Shellback.

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Nathan and Sean had sued Taylor Swift as they alleged that her song was lifted from their single ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ from the group 3LW. At the time, Taylor denied lifting their lyrics and said that she had neither heard the song before this nor of their group.

Taylor’s team argued that the song’s lyrics and tune could be similar because it is a part of everyday language and was part of the popular vernacular before Sean Hall and Nathan Butler wrote ‘Playas Gon’ Play’.

“I recall hearing phrases about players play and haters hate stated together by other children while attending school in Wyomissing Hills, and in high school in Hendersonville. These phrases were akin to other commonly used sayings like ‘don’t hate the playa, hate the game,’ ‘take a chill pill,’ and ‘say it, don’t spray it.’ … I was struck by messages that people prone to doing something will do it, and the best way to overcome it is to shrug it off and keep living,” Taylor said.

The songs appear to have nothing in common except the contested lines. The group, 3LW’s tune repeats the lyrics “Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate,” while Taylor Swift’s track uses the lines “‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”