After days of testimony and listening to both songs back-to-back, a jury in Los Angeles found on Monday that Katy Perry's 2013 hit "Dark Horse" copied the 2009 tune "Joyful Noise" by Christian rapper Marcus Gray.
Gray, who uses the stage name Flame, and the song's co-authors filed the lawsuit five years ago, alleging that the beat and instrumental lines were nearly identical, The Associated Press reports. During the trial, Perry and her "Dark Horse" co-authors testified that they never heard "Joyful Noise" or listened to Christian music. Her attorney, Christine Lepera, also accused Gray's lawyers of "trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone."
Gray's attorneys argued that it wasn't hard to fathom Perry, who got her start as a Christian singer, or any one of her co-authors hearing "Joyful Noise," as it has been streamed millions of times on Spotify and YouTube and appeared on an album that was nominated for a Grammy. "They're trying to shove Mr. Gray into some gospel music alleyway that no one ever visits," his attorney, Michael A. Kahn, said in court last week. Now that the verdict is in, the jury will next determine how much the defendants will owe the plaintiffs.
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