Editorial

Katy Perry Loses Copyright Infringement Lawsuit For ‘Dark Horse’

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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A jury decided Monday that singer Katy Perry’s single “Dark Horse” copied a Christian rap song.

Marcus Gray originally sued Perry back in 2014, alleging that she stole parts of “Dark Horse” from his song “Joyful Noise” released in 2009, according to a report published by the Associated Press. The jury returned a unanimous decision that Perry had committed copyright infringement.

A judge will now decide how much Perry and others will pay out to Gray for copyright infringement.

Gray accused Perry of copying nearly half of “Dark Horse” from his rap song “Joyful Noise.” “Dark Horse” was Perry’s third single off her 2013 album. The song was in the Billboard Top 100 for four weeks and was nominated for a Grammy. (RELATED: Katy Perry Reveals She Gets Enemas To Help Her Stay Young)

Perry and her legal team argued that the part of the song Gray was claiming copied his rap are basic elements of music that you can find in any song.

“They’re trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone,” Perry’s lawyer Christine Lepera said during court.

This lawsuit is a huge deal because you have a relatively unknown artist successfully convincing a jury that an extremely well known pop artist stole part of their song. It’ll be interesting to see how much Perry ends up owing in royalties.