The move comes more than five years after songwriters Sean Hall and Nate Butler first sued, arguing that Swift had lifted lyrics from their song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’, originally written in 2001 for American girl group 3LW.
Their initial argument was dismissed by a judge in February 2018, before that decision was overturned in October the following year.
Now though, a judge has dismissed the case “in its entirety”, just over a month out from when the case was due to go on trial, on 17 January.
Taylor Swift performing ‘Shake It Off’.
The decision comes after Swift and the two songwriters “reached an agreement”, as reported by Variety, with all three then jointly asking for the case to be dismissed, which US District judge Michael Fitzgerald complied with.
Swift has previously insisted not only had she never previously heard of ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ prior to the case, and addressed the case in a formal statement earlier this year, saying: “In writing the lyrics [for ‘Shake It Off’], 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.”
Incidentally, the news means Swift can now enjoy her birthday today (13 December) with one less thing to worry about – even if many of her fans (and indeed Swift herself) are still fuming over the recent Ticketmaster debacle, which has left many unable to see her touring her latest, record-breaking Midnights album.
That said, a limited number of new tickets to see Swift in action have recently been granted through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program – a plan the company says was pushed through by the pop star.
