A Los Angeles jury has ordered Katy Perry, her collaborators and record label to pay $2.78 million in damages to 3 songwriters for copying elements of a Christian hip-hop song.
On Tuesday, the jury found Perry, her collaborators and record label guilty of copyright violation. The jury decided Perry’s 2013 hit song “Dark Horse” sounded very similar to “Joyful Noise,” recorded by Christian rapper Marcus Gray, who is known by his stage name Flame.
On Thursday, the jury awarded Gray and two other songwriters just over $2,780,000 in damages for the 2009 Grammy-nominated song.
The jury found that Perry and her collaborators – including singer/songwriter Sarah Hudson and music producers Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, Max Martin and Cirkut – had the opportunity to listen to “Joyful Noise” since it was Grammy-nominated and viewed millions of times on YouTube.
Perry, 34, was ordered to pay over $550,000 in damages, while her collaborators and Capitol Records are responsible for paying the rest, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Gray, 37, filed the lawsuit in 2014 after attempting to settle out of court. The case survived numerous challenges from Perry and her record label’s legal team over the years.
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