Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Taylor Swift Using Lyrics From Her Hit Songs

Singer Taylor Swift performs during her "1989" world tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Friday, July 10, 2015, in New Jersey. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

The legal world saw sparks fly from Taylor Swift’s legal team last month when fellow (albeit lesser known) musician Jesse Graham (aka Jessie Braham) filed a $42 million lawsuit against Swift.

He alleged her multiple-Grammy-nominated song “Shake It Off” ripped off a song he wrote in 2013.

But federal Judge Gail J. Standish dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday with some style — using lyrics from some of the Grammy winner’s biggest hits.

According to Standish’s ruling, this isn’t how you get the girl — or even a selfie from the girl, a demand from Graham.

Standish’s dismissal cites “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and multiple hits from Swift’s latest album “1989.”

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 in Part II, Braham may discover that mere pleading Band-Aids will not fix the bullet holes in his case. At least for the moment, defendants have shaken off this lawsuit.

Gail J. Standish was appointed as U.S. Magistrate Judge in April 2015 to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

You’ll have to begin again, Graham, because Swift is out of the woods.

29
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Really? We have to read about Taylor Swift in TPM now? Give me a break. Please.

  2. Haters gonna hate, hate, hate

    Readers gonna read, read, read

    Commenters gonna com, com (oops, sorry, that doesn’t work)

  3. Whenever something like this happens: a recently graduated clerk is responsible.

  4. Long, long after she is dust and her music has been forgotten we will still have Bach and Mozart.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

23 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for kidzmom1 Avatar for jackson_frisell Avatar for blue_bear Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for headhunter212 Avatar for humpback Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for horrido Avatar for noparty Avatar for arrendis Avatar for astralfire Avatar for rockgolf Avatar for callmelefty Avatar for captaincommonsense Avatar for twowolves Avatar for dickweed Avatar for ronbyers Avatar for sbtheydd Avatar for ryokyo Avatar for shakerosalt Avatar for tiowally

Continue Discussion