So that copyright suit against T-Swift? The judge used Taylor lyrics to dismiss it

Today in “Our New Hero” news, a California judge not only threw out a recent copyright lawsuit against our collective BFF Taylor Swift – she used lyrics from multiple T-Swift songs to do so, and consequently joined our list of favorite judges right next to Judge Judy, Philip Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Judge Reinhold. The jury is still out (see what I did there?) on Mike Judge. Who is actually awesome, but I just really needed to make that joke.

Anyway, on Tuesday, Judge Gail Standish of the United States District Court dismissed a case filed against Swift by musician Jessie Braham, who claimed T-Swift’s hit “Shake It Off” had copied lyrics from his song “Haters Gone Hate.” The lyrics Braham cited from his own song are, “Haters gone hate, playas gone play. Watch out for them fakers, they’ll fake you everyday,” while the 2014 lyrics he claimed Swift used that violated his 2013 copyright are, “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” as well as “And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake.”

Are these lyrics similar? Sure. Are they so similar they should be forcing Swift and her record label, Sony, to fork over $42 million in damages and give Braham songwriter credit? Not so much.

Standish agrees, as she ruled that Braham did not have sufficient factual evidence for the lawsuit past speculation. She’s also obviously a hardcore Taylor lover (one of us, one of us!). Not only did she use lyrics from “Shake it Off” in her statement – like any good T-Swift fan, she committed, also borrowing from “Bad Blood,” “Blank Space,” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

The statement included the following lines:

“At present, the Court is not saying that Braham can never, ever, ever get his case back in court. But, for now, we have got problems, and the Court is not sure Braham can solve them.”

“As currently drafted, the Complaint has a blank space — one that requires Braham to do more than write his name. And, upon consideration of the Court’s explanation … Braham may discover that mere pleading BandAids will not fix the bullet holes in his case. At least for the moment, Defendants have shaken off this lawsuit.”

As far as Braham is concerned, that’s gotta be a serious picture to burn. And this is where we’d usually make a “We’re on fire today” joke, but it’s just too much for a Thursday afternoon.

(Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com)