A judge denied Taylor Swift's request to dismiss a copyright lawsuit against her on Monday.
Nine months after the 'Shake It Off' singer filed a motion asking a judge to reverse one of his key rulings and dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit over the song, the judge issued his decision on Monday.
Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler are suing Swift for alleged copyright infringement, claiming 'Shake It Off' copies from the chorus of their 2001 song 'Playas Gon' Play'. The lyrics include "playas, they gonna play" and "haters, they gonna hate".
In December 2021, Swift's lawyers asked US District Judge Michael W Fitzgerald to rethink his 9 December decision that Hall and Butler deserved a trial over "genuine" issues of dispute.
On Monday, Judge Fitzgerald rejected Swift's challenge to his summary judgment decision reached last December, Rolling Stone reports. He also ruled the case would still go to trial on the previously-set date in January 2023.
"The motion for reconsideration is denied," Fitzgerald said in the Los Angeles hearing.
"I don't think it meets the standard for reconsideration, and even if it did, and I was approaching it again on the merits, I still think there's a genuine issue of material fact in part because of the expert opinion.
"I apologise there's been the delay, but I have no intention of having oral argument," he said, referencing the time taken to respond to Swift's December 2021 filing.
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