Banking

Bankruptcy
Class Action
Competition
Employment
Energy
Expert Analysis
Insurance
Intellectual Property
Product Liability
Securities
Rankings
Data-Driven Lawyers
Regional Powerhouses
Law360's MVPs
Glass Ceiling Report
Global 20
Law360 400
Diversity Snapshot
Practice Groups of the Year
Rising Stars
Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar
Site Menu
Join the Law360 team
Search legal jobs
Learn more about Law360
Read testimonials
Contact Law360
Sign up for our newsletters
Site Map
Help

We use cookies on this site to enable your digital experience. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing
to our cookie policy. close

Katy Perry Likely Can't Dump Christian

Rappers' IP Suit
By Daniel Siegal

Share us on: By Daniel Siegal

Law360, Los Angeles (August 13, 2018, 7:58 PM EDT) -- A California federal judge on Monday tentatively
refused to dismiss a Christian rap group’s suit that alleges Katy Perry’s hit “Dark Horse” is a rip-off, saying
the possibility that Perry’s writers heard the rap group’s song before writing their hit likely cannot be ruled
out.
At the outset of the hearing in downtown Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder issued a written
tentative ruling indicating she would deny the motion for summary judgment brought by Capitol Records
LLC, Universal Music Group Inc. and multiple songwriters, and joined by Perry. The defendants had argued
in their motion that there was no way plaintiffs Marcus Gray, a.k.a. Flame; Emanuel Lambert; and Chike
Ojukwu could claim that the songwriters behind “Dark Horse” had heard the rap group’s song “Joyful
Noise.”

Christine Lepera of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, representing the defendants, urged Judge Snyder to
reconsider her tentative ruling, arguing there was no evidence “Joyful Noise” received the sort of commercial
exposure, such as radio play or record sales, needed to make the assumption that Perry’s writers heard it a
“reasonable possibility, not speculation.”

Lepera said the plaintiffs' argument that “Joyful Noise” had four million views on YouTube over four
years was insufficient to prove access. Lepera said that under Recording Industry Association of America
standards, 150 views are needed to equal one record or single sale, meaning “Joyful Noise” was closer to a
25,000-unit-selling track.

“To say that 4 million views is the equivalent of a multi-platinum album is absolutely false,” she said. “The
number of views may sound like a lot in on its own … but four million views over four years, it is a speck.”

Lepera also told Judge Snyder that allowing “internet views to overtake brick and mortar standards” would
cause a flood of new copyright suits on behalf of songs that were never commercially exploited.

Judge Snyder, however, did not seem inclined to change her tentative ruling that Perry’s writers could have
heard the song, pointing to the fact that “Joyful Noise” was not “nice Christian music,” but had even nabbed
a Grammy nomination.

“I understand there is always a potential parade of horribles, but I don’t think this case is going to do it,” she
said. “There is at least a question of fact, that’s not to say you won’t prevail at trial … but I really think that
there is a question here.”

Gray, Lambert, Ojukwu and Lecrae Moore sued Perry in Missouri federal court in July 2014, accusing her,
Capitol Records and the "Dark Horse" writers of infringing the gospel song "Joyful Noise," which was part of
an album that received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album in 2008. The other
individual defendants include rap star Jordan Houston, known as Juicy J, and pop songwriting titans Lukasz
Gottwald, known as Dr. Luke, and Karl Martin Sandberg, known as Max Martin.

The musicians also allege that the "devoutly religious message" of their song had been tarnished by "its
association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in
'Dark Horse,'" according to the complaint.

In July 2015, U.S. District Judge Henry Edward Autrey said he lacked jurisdiction to handle the suit, ruling
that Gray had not established a direct relationship between Perry and Missouri outside the context of the
nationwide distribution of her song, and transferred the suit to California's central district. Moore was
removed as a plaintiff in the operative third amended complaint.

The plaintiffs are represented by Michael A. Kahn, Drey A. Cooley and Daniel R. Blakey of Capes Sokol and
Eric F. Kayira of Kayira Law LLC.

Perry is represented by Vincent H. Chieffo and Alana C. Srour of Greenberg Traurig LLP. Capitol Records,