Taylor Swift tries to block rival experts at ‘Shake It Off’ trial

[Teletubby 138,796]

Taylor Swift claims two rival experts tapped to testify at her upcoming “Shake It Off” copyright infringement trial are “not qualified” to take the witness stand and should be blocked by the “gatekeeper” judge.

Taylor Swift argues one of the challenged witnesses has failed to give a legitimate basis for his claim that 50% of “Shake It Off’s” profits are attributable to the “players play” and “haters hate” phrases that songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler allege were stolen from their 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play,” written for the all-female R&B trio 3LW.

Swift, who claims the phrases are public domain, also says the disputed expert, Bob Kohn, should be barred from sharing his opinion that Swift’s song would lose all “force, meaning and energy” without the phrases. “[Kohn] is a lawyer who plays no musical instruments and claims expertise because he saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and—like most if not all of us—listens to music.”  “His deposition testimony confirms he is simply making it up as he goes along,” the lawyers said of Kohn, a New York-based lawyer who authored a book on music licensing.

Taylor Swift’s motion further claims that a George Washington University musicology professor also slated to testify for Hall and Butler has no training in “comparative literary analysis.” “He does not have any understanding as to the methodology used in the comparative linguistic analysis of two works. He also does not teach literature or poetry and has never written a song or lyrics,” 

Judge Fitzgerald has yet to rule on Swift’s request to bar the experts.

The trial is set to begin January 17, 2023.

[androiduser 7,438]

well, we don't know all the details, but it is likely that the team suing Taylor found some random "experts" to support their ridiculous claim

[mr.peter 3,546]

oh s#!+ I forgot to order my Midnight's Special edition vinyl before the deadline do you think she will put them back up ?

[River 107,478]

"Swift, who claims the phrases are public domain"

Didn't she try to trademark these phrases? or she did trademark them? I don't exactly remember, but these goes against her own actions and looks bad.

[pop a 911 3,624]

40 minutes ago, mr.peter said:

oh s#!+ I forgot to order my Midnight's Special edition vinyl before the deadline do you think she will put them back up ?

[Crescent Bloom 1,064]

44 minutes ago, mr.peter said:

oh s#!+ I forgot to order my Midnight's Special edition vinyl before the deadline do you think she will put them back up ?

No, but there are some on Ebay for only $55 USD rn. I would expect they would go up in price over time, but who knows because these were widely available for a week (and im not sure the same time length was given for the folklore variants).

[AkariGaga 1,102]

I don’t know why but this news surely left a sour taste in my mouth.By exposing the name of the expert witnesses to the million of angry swifties,I feel like Swift’s lawyers are trying to intimidate them to prevent them from testifying .If you don’t agree the expert opinion,you can always undercut them in court by cross examination and by using another expert witness to contradict opinions During The Trial .But it looks like Swift team don’t even want them to testify and even want to intimidate any further expert witnesses for the opposing site.

it looks like their testimony during depositions really hurt the defense.

 

[mr.peter 3,546]

2 hours ago, Crescent Bloom said:

No, but there are some on Ebay for only $55 USD rn. I would expect they would go up in price over time, but who knows because these were widely available for a week (and im not sure the same time length was given for the folklore variants).

I could have sworn they brought the Folklore variants back for a little bit .... I will keep an eye out on her webstore

[Ladle Ghoulash 16,755]

2 hours ago, River said:

"Swift, who claims the phrases are public domain"

Didn't she try to trademark these phrases? or she did trademark them? I don't exactly remember, but these goes against her own actions and looks bad.

I believe she successfully trademarked "This sick beat"