Katy Perry & team to pay $2.78 million fine for copyrighting Christian rap song

A jury has found Dark Horse singer Katy Perry and others on her team liable to the tune of $2.78 million after it found Dark Horse infringed on a portion of a Christian rap song, Joyful Noise.

Marcus Gray and two co-authors filed the copyright infringement lawsuit five years ago, alleging Perry and her producers stole a key 16-second musical riff from their rap song Joyful Noise, which was released under the stage name Flame in 2009.

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Dark Horse, a single from Perry’s 2013 album Prism, spent four weeks at No. 1 and was nominated for a Grammy.

Gray’s team had reportedly pushed the jury to award them nearly $20 million, noting Dark Horse had grossed about $41 million. Perry’s attorneys had argued for damages to be around $360,000.

Of the financial penalty, a jury determined that Perry is responsible for just over $550,000, with Capitol Records responsible for the majority of the tab, the Associated Press reports. It was not immediately clear how much others involved in writing the song, including producer Dr Luke, were on the hook for.

During the trial phase, Perry’s attorneys argued that the song’s creators hadn’t heard of Joyful Noise and don’t listen to Christian rap. They also contended the elements of the riff are so basic that they should be available to all songwriters.

But on Monday, the nine-member jury — which also decided the financial penalty — disagreed after analysing both tracks and hearing hours of testimony from music and sound experts.

It’s unclear how much of the penalty Perry will have to pay, given that contracts often include stipulations that indemnify the artists to some degree from financial damages.

 

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