Throughout the year, countless copyright infringement and plagiarism lawsuits have been brought to court, alleging singers and songwriters like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and even Lizzo for ripping off their music from another artist's work of art.
After Ed Sheeran successfully won his lawsuit earlier this year, his close friend Taylor Swift is now on the stand to defend her 2014 hit song, "Shake It Off."
In a new sworn declaration, the GRAMMY-Winning artist has appealed to the judge again that she wrote the song by herself and has not lifted any lyrics from other people's work.
Taylor Swift 'Shake It Off' Copyright Lawsuit Update
Writing to the court last August 8, Taylor Swift reiterated once again that she has written "Shake It Off" entirely by herself. (via Billboard)
"In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, in particular, unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, 'clickbait' reporting, public manipulation, and other forms of negative personal criticism which I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music," she elaborated.
In 2017, songwriters Nathan Butler and Sean Hall sued Taylor Swift for alleged copyright infringement. Noting that the "All Too Well" hitmaker stole the lyrics of their song "Playas Gon' Play," a song they wrote in 2001 for the girl group 3LW.
To compare, the 2001 song uses "playas, they gonna play" and "haters, they gonna hate" while Swift's track sang "'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."
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In her new statement, Taylor Swift noted that "there was no need to steal" those lyrics because she had heard those lyrics growing up in school and even on the playground when she was still young.
The 32-years-old singer-songwriter has also pointed out that the phrase has been widely used by various artists in the industry. Swift's lawyers had also been echoing the same argument since then.
Per her lawyers, the phrases "haters gonna hate" and "players gonna play" are so simple and so widely used in pop culture that nobody should be able to monopolize them.
In the latter part of her recent declaration, Taylor Swift stated that she had never heard of the song on the radio, on film, or even on television. It was only until learning the lawsuit in 2017.
READ ALSO: Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well (10 Minute Version)' GRAMMY Eligibility Causes Confusion
