Katy Perry's Dark Horse Infringement

Copyright infringement, often known as piracy, happens when a copyright work is reproduced, disseminated, publicly exhibited, or turned into a derivative work without the copyright owner's permission.

Katy Perry's smash single "Dark Horse," which has been viewed and played 3.1 billion

times, is a well-known example of infringement. A Los Angeles jury determined in July 2019 that Katy Perry's hit Dark Horse infringed on the copyright of Christian rapper Flame's Joyful Noise from 2008. When comparing the background beats of ‘Dark Horse' with ‘Joyful Noise,' you will detect a similarity.

Katy Perry, Capitol Records, and partners were forced to pay a total of 2.8 million dollars in the Dark Horse copyright infringement complaint. Perry was sentenced to pay $550,000 out of his own pocket. Katy Perry and her legal team requested for the judgment to be overturned later that year, citing the cases' "legally unsupportable jury judgments." Furthermore, Perry's team contended that the verdict was "widely regarded as a gross miscarriage of justice within the music business and beyond."

A federal judge overturned the copyright infringement decision in Katy Perry's hit song "Dark Horse" shortly after this case. Judge Christina A. Snyder overturns the jury's decision, declaring that the musical phrase on the blouse in question isn't unique enough to merit copyright protection.

Judge Snyder based her judgment on the testimony of the plaintiff's expert witness, musicologist Todd Decker, who testified that the jury made a mistake. “A relatively common 8-note combination of unprotected parts played in a timbre typical to a certain genre of music cannot be so creative as to deserve copyright protection,” she said.

New artists and songwriters are paying tens of thousands of dollars on insurance coverage as a result of an upsurge in copyright disputes. Smaller musicians who can't

afford to retain on-call musicologists to assess new releases for copyright claims are resorting to a new type of protection: insurance. Artists are understandably wary of disclosing their copyright insurance in public, as doing so could expose them to more lawsuits. Big label firms, on the other hand, typically have robust insurance policies that protect them against copyright difficulties.

Young and inexperienced songwriters, who may not have the financial means to insure themselves like huge celebrities, are just as vulnerable to copyright claims. The rise in popularity of low-cost music creation software that provides the same functions to all users poses an even greater risk. “For the first time,” Golan argues, “music is more similar than it is different.” Because of the convenience and efficiency, everyone uses the same sample packs and plug-ins. Melodies are constantly available through notes and chord development. New music is always created through the use of existing music.

The aspect of creative expression is becoming increasingly narrow as copyright lawsuits in the music industry become more regular.