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This is just ridiculous. I don’t like Taylor Swift as much as the next guy, but you can’t sue another musician for “ripping off” such colloquial phrases such as “haters gone hate” and “playas gone play.” That’s common vernacular, not Shakespeare at work.
Taylor Swift is currently being sued for allegedly stealing her song, “Shake It Off” from another artist. She apparently stole the lyrics from an unknown song entitled “Haters Gone Hate” by Jesse Braham. She won a Grammy for the hit song in 2014, a year after Braham released his lesser known track. You can listen to Braham’s song below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=808MLaHcBs4
Despite the national tragedy that is Braham’s album cover, I, quite frankly, would listen to this song over Swift’s “Shake It Off.” He sings in his chorus, “Haters gone hate / Playas gone play / Watch out for fakers / They’ll fake you every day.”
A short, succinct message to the masses.
Braham claims that Swift blatantly ripped off his lyrics and wants a $42 million for the alleged theft. However, the case could be over before it even began because artists cannot sue over the use of such a short phrase.
A legal source told Mirror that “Mr. Braham, who is representing himself, cannot claim copyright protection for the phrases ‘haters gone hate’ and ‘playas gone play’ because the Copyright Act does not protect short phrases and these phrases are not original to him. In addition, and most damning to Mr. Braham’s claim, the two songs have absolutely nothing in common.”
In short, Swift has nothing to worry about.
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