Katy Perry Might Face Copyright Infringement: Must-See Details

On Monday, July 29, a federal jury unanimously decided Katy Perry’s 2013 smash hit, “Dark Horse” featuring Juicy J. stole from a Christian rap song.

According to AP News, the Grammy-nominated single from the singer’s “PRISM” album copied 2009’s “Joyful Noise,” according to a 2014 suit filed by Marcus Gray – who released the track under the stage name Flame – and two co-authors.

Perry and her “Dark Horse” co-authors testified they’d never heard Gray’s song nor heard of him prior to the lawsuit, saying they didn’t even listen to Christian music. Although the American Idol judge has been open about starting her career as a Christian artist, Gray’s lawyer had noted.

On Tuesday, the penalty phase will start and will determine how much the singer and fellow defendants will have to pay for copyright infringement. So far, the song’s notes and beats have taken priority over the lyrics and recording, which should leave Perry in the clear.

Those liable include all six songwriters and all four corporations, including Capitol Records, responsible for having released and distributed the song. Although Perry and Juicy J. are listed as songwriters, the latter only wrote his rap portion of the song and nothing else.

45-year-old producer, Dr. Luke, who was famously sued by Kesha for alleged emotional abuse and sexual assault in 2014, is among Perry’s producers who were also found liable. Max Martin and Cirkut were the other producers responsible.

Her attorneys argued the song sections in question represent the kind of simple musical elements that if found to be subject to copyright would hurt music and all songwriters. “They’re trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone,” Perry’s lawyer, Christine Lepera, said during closing arguments.

During the 2015 SuperBowl Halftime Show, Perry performed “Dark Horse.” The single also ended 2014 as the year’s number two song on the Billboard Hot 100.

The singer was not present for the verdict but was present during the first few days of the trial, even offering to sing the song in court on the second day when there were technical issues when trying to compare the two songs.