Jury Says Katy Perry’s Guilty In Dark Horse vs. Joyful Noise Case – What Happens Now?
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A Los Angeles jury found that American Idol judge, Katy Perry’s hit Dark Horse plagiarized a 2009 Christian rap song, titled Joyful Noise on Monday. You can listen to both Dark Horse vs. Joyful Noise and decide for yourself if you agree with the court. The question we have is, what happens to Katy Perry now?
Back In 2014 artist Flame aka Marcus Gray and two co-authors sued Katy Perry for copyright infringement.
Watch Katy Perry Arrive In Court
The court found that Katy Perry’s song copied the beat and instrumental lines of Gray’s track. The verdict stated that Dark Horse does indeed infringe on Marcus Gray’s copyright.
Penalty Phase In The Katy Perry Dark Horse Case
The jury now enters the penalty phase in which they will decide how much Perry and her co-defendants owe.
The codefendants in the lawsuit are Capitol Records producers: Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut, who engineered the beats. Additionally, Sarah Hudson, who co-wrote song’s lyrics, and Juicy J, who wrote a rap verse were also named in the suit.
Perry and her codefendants testified that they had never heard the song, nor had they ever heard of Marcus Gray before. They even made it a point to say that they did not listen to faith based music.
Seeing as how Katy Perry got her start in Christian music the response feels a bit suspect. Furthermore Gray is a Grammy award winning artist with millions of views on YouTube. The jury decided that it was feasible that the defendants had heard the song before.
You Be The Jury: Listen To Dark Horse vs. Joyful Noise – Do they sound similar?
Joyful Noise – Flame
Dark Horse – Katy Perry
What Happes To Katy Perry Now?
Attorneys for Marcus Gray stated that the song Dark Horse generated 41 million dollars, and Gray should receive a percentage. Katy Perry’s lawyers say that costs of production and other factors need to be subtracted before coming to a number.
Dark Horse, a cross-genre hit including pop, trap, and hip-hop was the third single off of Katy Perry’s 2013 album Prism. The song did exceptionally well spending 4 weeks on the Billboard charts, and earning a Grammy nomination. Katy Perry even performed Dark Horse on the halftime show for the Super Bowl in 2015.
The pop icon recently posted a photo with music tycoon David Geffen in Spain, and she will not be in attendance for the penalty phase. This next phase of the case is expected to last 2 days.
Update:
A federal Los Angeles jury found that Katy Perry along with her fellow producers have to pay approximately 2.78 million dollars in damages to artist Marcus Gray AKA Flame.
According to the jury 22.5% of the profits of Perry’s 2014 hit Dark Horse will be paid to Gray. The final verdict concluded that Perry has to pay a total of $550,000.
