LOS ANGELES — Two songwriters are suing Taylor Swift and others, alleging copyright infringement.
Sean Hall, doing business as Gimme Some Hot Sauce Music, and Nathan Butler doing business as Faith Force Music, filed a complaint Sept. 18 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Taylor Swift, Karl Martin Sandberg, Karl Johan Schuster, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC et al, alleging they violated copyright laws through unauthorized distribution of an intellectual property.
According to the complaint, Hall and Butler have sustained and will continue to sustain substantial, immediate, and irreparable injury due to the defendants’ willful infringement of the plaintiffs’ copyrights and exclusive rights to lyrical phrase in their song "Playas Gon' Play." The suit says the plaintiffs' song had its debut in 2001 and the defendants copied and included similar lyrics in their song "Shake It Off" that was released in August 2014.
The plaintiffs allege the defendants failed to seek license or other permission from Hall and Butler, continued to copy and publicly perform the plaintiffs’ copyrighted material, and profited substantially from their infringing activities.
Hall and Butler seek trial by jury, determination that their copyright has been infringed upon by the defendants, damages, attorney fees costs, and all further relief the court deems just. They are represented by attorneys Gerard P. Fox, Lauren M. Greene and Banu S. Naraghi of Gerard Fox Law PC in Los Angeles.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California case number 17-C-6882