A $42 million lawsuit against pop idol Taylor Swift was officially tossed out of court this week.
On Tuesday (Nov. 10), US district court judge Gail Standish dismissed R&B singer Jesse Graham’s claims that Swift had plagiarized lyrics from his 2013 song ”Haters Gone Hate” for her own 2014 hit ”Shake It Off.”
Among the evidence were court documents that showed the phrases “haters gonna hate” and “players gonna play” had been listed as Google search trends years before Graham (real name: Jesse Braham) recorded his track.
Adding insult to injury, the unusual language in Standish’s decision appeared to parody the very issue under dispute. According to celebrity gossip blog Perez Hilton, Standish wrote:
At present, the court is not saying that Braham can never, ever, ever get his case back in court. But, for now, we have got problems, and the court is not sure Braham can solve them. As currently drafted, the complaint has a blank space—one that requires Braham to do more than write his name. And upon consideration of the court’s explanation in part two, Braham may discover that mere pleading Band-Aids will not fix the bullet holes in this case. At least for the moment, defendants have shaken off this lawsuit.
Standish alludes to an assortment of Swift hits, such as 2014’s “Bad Blood” (the original lyric: “Now we got problems, and I don’t think we can solve them”), 2014’s “Blank Space,” and 2012’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
It’s been a victorious week for Swift, as she recently settled another copyright infringement lawsuit against her. Still pending, though, is her legal spat with a radio DJ who allegedly tried to grope her when she went on his show.