Katy Perry wins USD 2.8 million copyright claim lawsuit.
Over the years, Katy Perry has given us classic tunes. Dark Horse, for example, is one of her most memorable songs.
She has now won the copyright appeal filed against the song and is no longer obligated to pay the money.
Flame alleged that the song used an eight-note ostinato from his 2009 song Joyful Noise, which he claimed was copied.
In 2016, Gray filed a lawsuit against Perry and co-defendants, including Capitol Records. They were granted $2.8 million in a jury judgment three years later.
Perry eventually appealed, and a federal district court judge overturned the verdict in March 2020.
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According to the Guardian, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge has decided that Gray was attempting to claim an “improper monopoly” over traditional “musical building pieces.”
Allowing copyright over this work would impede musical inventiveness, the judge found.
“To allowing an erroneous monopoly on two-note pitch sequences or even the minor scale itself, especially given the restricted expressive options available when it comes to an eight-note repetitive musical figure.”
Gray filed an appeal in October 2020, citing the incriminating timbre resemblance between the tracks in his petition.
In addition, he argued against the use of melodic databases by musicologists to find instances of similarity in past works.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s decision to overturn the initial jury verdict on March 10, 2022.
Perry’s victory in 2020 was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a court to overturn a jury verdict in a copyright infringement case.
The verdict in Perry’s favor comes as a new wave of A-list singers is being sued for copyright violations.
For example, copyright claims have been filed against Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa for their most well-known songs.
Music copyright infringement cases are a complex subject. It might be difficult to tell what is plagiarised and simply a common musical expression at times.
Nevertheless, in this case, Perry’s victory would give her fellow musicians more clout in their legal battles.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.