Photo credit: Getty / Rich Fury
After a weeklong trial, a California jury has concluded that Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse’ is a copyright infringement.
Christian rapper, Marcus Gray, known as “Flame,” alleged that Katy ripped off his 2009 song “Joyful Noise”. Marcus Gray and his two co-writers Emanuel Lambert and Chike Ojukwuhis, sued Perry for copyright infringement for nabbing the core aspect of their beat.
It is reported that a jury has found Perry and Capitol Records liable and decided that they need to pay damages to Flame, Lambert, and Ojukwuhis.
The beat for “Dark Horse” was created by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut, and Perry’s lawyer tried to argue that his client had never heard of Flame. She said during her testimony that the part that sounds like “Joyful Noise” may have been in the song without her knowledge.
The amount that Perry and her label will have to pay up has yet to be determined, but that is sure to be decided within the next few days. With over 13 million sales, “Dark Horse” was the second best-selling track of 2014.