Taylor Swift lifted our lyrics, pair say in ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ suit

What’s next? Copyrighting “I love you” in songs?

Three years after Taylor Swift began singing “[T]he players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” two songwriters behind 3LW’s “Playas Gon’ Play” are suing for lyrics theft.

Sean Hall and Nathan Butler wrote the 2001 song and are behind the suit filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court.

“The combination of playas/players playing along with hatas/haters hating may seem like common parlance today. However, in 2001 it was completely original and unique,” attorney Gerard Fox said in the complaint quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.

“In all, ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ prominently features a sequence of four peoples (playas, haters, callers, and ballers) who engage in four activities (playing, hating, calling, and balling). Plaintiffs were the first to put such a sequence together using the terms playas and haters, and prior to Defendants’ use at issue herein, the combination had not since been used in popular music.”

So a slam dunk case against Swift?

Not so fast, says a Swift spokesperson: “This is a ridiculous claim and nothing more than a money grab. The law is simple and clear. They do not have a case.”

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