In 2017 two songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Bultler sued Taylor Swift claiming that she copied their lyrics from their 2001 song 'Playas Gon' Play'.
Lyrics is Question: The songwriters accused Taylor Swift of copying their lyrics in the hook of ' Shake it Off. The lyrics of Playas Gon' Play', states " Playas they gonna play/ And haters they gonna hate/ Ballers, they gonna ball/ Shot callers, they gonna call." Taylor's chorus reflects " cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate"
Now the case was dismissed in February 2018, however the decision to dismiss was overturned (reversed) on October 28, 2019 by the Appeals Court. The case was originally dismissed because the Judge stated "the allegedly infringing lyrics are short phrases that lack the modicum or originality and creativity required for copyright protection." Furthermore the phrases players, haters and player haters were phrases used in numerous popular songs and the lyrics alleged to be copied are too brief, unoriginal, and uncreative to warrant protection under the Copyright Act.
The Appeals Court reasoned that it was wrong to conclude '“for such short phrases to be protected under the Copyright Act , they must be more creative than the lyrics at issues here." Because the absences of originality is not established either on the face of the complaint or through the judicially noticed matter we reversed the court's dismissal. "
Bottom Line: The Judges kicked back the case reasoning that just because the lyrics in question are short and maybe even popular and used in many song doesn't mean it should automatically be dismissed rather it should be inspected more closely to establish whether there was originality or Taylor Swift copied the lyrics.
Now in this case the writers had a copyright for the lyrics but they are only arguing copyright infringement on a short phrase within their lyrics. Now to prove copyright infringement it requires access and proof of substantial similarity.
Historically Copyright law has disfavored short phrases. Often sharing similar phrases and particularly common descriptive phrases are usually not enough to win a copyright claim.
Good News for Content Creators: Now the Courts are looking closely at short similar phrases being copyright infringement and weighing the similarities in the creative expression. This can be good for content creators who may popularize phrases, hooks, expressions or even short choreo that in the past the Copyright Office and Courts have been resistant to offering protection. We don't know if the writers will win, but we do know the Court says it’s way too early to tell and that can be very good thing.