Katy Perry's 'Dark Horse' Copied From Christian Rap Song, Jury Rules
Katy Perry came up on the losing end of her jury trial after a verdict was handed down Monday that ruled the singer's 2013 hit song "Dark Horse" copied a 2009 Christian rap song.
The nine-member federal jury returned the unanimous verdict and now the case moves to the penalty phase to determine how much Perry and her fellow defendants owe.
Perry testified during the seven-day trial, as did Dr. Luke, who produced the song. They both told the jury that neither of them had heard the song before the lawsuit was filed.
“Dark Horse” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and earned Perry a Grammy nomination in 2014 for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Perry, producer Dr. Luke and rapper Juicy J were sued back in 2014 by Christian rappers Marcus Gray (aka Flame) and Chike Ojukwu.
They were accused of ripping off the gospel group's 2008 song "Joyful Noise" for Perry’s 2013 hit, "Dark Horse." They claimed they never gave permission or were paid and sued seeking unspecified damages.
The gospel group even claimed their reputations in the religious community were ruined because Perry's song included talk of witchcraft and black magic.
They said Perry was responsible for "creating a false association between the music of Joyful Noise and the anti-Christian witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by Defendants’ Song, especially in the music video version."
Perry, Juicy J, and Luke denied all allegations of wrongdoing. They claimed to have created "Dark Horse” independently and said any similarities were not copyrightable.
