A federal appeals court sided with singer Katy Perry on Thursday, ruling that the $2.8 million jury verdict previously awarded to Christian rapper Flame was “unsupported.”
The ruling, from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, found that Flame, whose legal name is Marcus Gray, was attempting to claim an “improper monopoly” over conventional “musical building blocks” when he first sued Perry over her 2013 hit, “Dark Horse,” Rolling Stone reported.
Gray claimed the song was substantially similar to his 2009 song, “Joyful Noise,” Variety reported. The rapper alleged that Perry and her co-defendants, including Capitol Records, lifted a repeating eight-note instrumental phrase known as an ostinato from “Joyful Noise” and used it on “Dark Horse,” according to Rolling Stone.
A Los Angeles jury awarded Gray and the song’s two other writers $2.8 million in damages in July 2019, finding Perry liable for infringement, The Wall Street Journal reported. A district judge reversed the ruling in March 2020, writing that what Perry allegedly copied lacked the “quantum of originality” to warrant copyright protection, according to Variety.
Gray appealed the decision in October 2020, the entertainment outlet reported.
>> Led Zeppelin wins ‘Stairway to Heaven’ copyright fight
“The trial record compels us to conclude that the ostinatos at issue here consist entirely of commonplace musical elements, and that the similarities between them do not arise out of an original combination of these elements,” Thursday’s ruling reads. “Consequently, the jury’s verdict finding defendants liable for copyright infringement was unsupported by the evidence.”
Michael Kahn, an attorney for Gray, said Friday that his client was considering his options, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“We are disappointed by the Court’s rejection of the unanimous verdict of a properly instructed jury,” Kahn said in a statement.
Perry’s first court victory came shortly after the Ninth Circuit upheld a 2016 ruling that Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” did not infringe on Spirit’s 1968 song, “Taurus,” Rolling Stone reported.
>> Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom welcome baby girl, Daisy Dove Bloom
In both cases, the court ruled that the plaintiffs did not present direct evidence that the alleged infringed works were copied, only that “access” was possible, according to Rolling Stone.