Katy Perry Wins Appeal Over Copyright-Infringement Lawsuit

Katy Perry won the appeal in a long-running piracy proceeding and confirmed that the musician and her record label do not have to pay $2.8 million in damages.

The lawsuit filed in 2014 alleges that Ms. Perry's song "Dark Horse" copied the repetitive instrumental of Christian hip-hop artist Flame's song "Joyful Noise." The jury inflicted $2.8 million in damages to Mr. Gray and the other two writers of the song, but the district court later overturned the award. Mr. Gray filed an appeal in 2020.

On Thursday, a judge at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals suffered damages to Ms. Perry and other defendants due to insufficient evidence that "Joyful Noise" and "Dark Horse" were "externally similar works." 

Recently, several major musical acts, including Dua Lipa's Levitating, have been sued for piracy. Dua Lipa was sued last week in two separate proceedings over the same song "Levitating" by two different acts.

Professor Christopher Buccafsco of the Cardozo Law School in New York says that lawsuits between little-known artists and more popular artists are becoming more common, as it is easier to find music and fans can alert the artist about the similarities among songs.