Katy Perry Wins the $2.8 Million Copyright Case Over ‘Dark Horse’ Brought by Rapper Flame

Katy Perry is once again making headlines with her latest win on her appeal in a copyright case for her hit single ‘Dark Horse’.

Rapper Flame filed the case against her co-defendants that included Capitol Records in 2016 claiming that the song was plagiarized. He said an eight not ostinato from his soundtrack, ‘Joyful Noise’ released in 2009. He won the case and the jury found his claim viable. He was awarded $2.8 million three years later with the verdict. Perry appealed against it and a federal district court canceled the verdict in 2020.

Perry will not have to pay the $2.8 million to Marcus Gray or rapper Flame after the verdict. The judge at the ninth circuit court of appeals dismissed rapper Flame’s claims saying that he was trying to impose a monopoly over the conventional building blocks of music.

In the new hearing, it is said that the ostinatos found in both Gray and Perry’s songs are made of commonplace musical elements. It also says, ‘The similarities between them do not arise out of an original combination of these elements’.

According to the judge, if such copyright rule is imposed over that material, it would put a limitation over the creativity of the musicians ‘to allowing an improper monopoly over two-note pitch sequences or even the minor scale itself, especially in light of the limited number of expressive choices available when it comes to an eight-note repeated musical figure.’

A lot of A-list musicians are also facing copyright lawsuits besides Katy Perry. This ruling of Perry winning the case will definitely bring some hope for the rest. British singer Ed Sheeran had been sued as well. It is alleged that he copied some parts of his 2017 hit single ‘Shape of You’ from a song that is written by Ross O’Donoghue and Sami Chokri. He is defending the case in the high court this week.

Fellow artist Dua Lipa is also facing not one but two lawsuits for her 2020 hit number ‘Levitating’. While one of the lawsuits is brought by two disco songwriters, the other one is by a Florida-based reggae band. The allegation of copying parts of a song created by Jordan Vincent, Rosco Banlaoi, and Christopher Miranda has been brought upon Sam Smith and Normani for their 2019 single, ‘Dancing With a Stranger’.