A jury stated that the 2013 hit, ‘Dark Horse’ by Katy Perry is stolen from another song, Joyful Noise by Flame feat Lecrae.
Consisting of six people, a federal jury found Katy Perry guilty of stealing a Christian rap song.
Perry, co-writer Sarah Hudson, alongside producers Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut are guilty of copyright infringement according to The Associated Press.
This claim may stand in court but falls apart where music theorists are concerned. The 2009 song, ‘Joyful Noise’ is written by Marcus Gray, aka Flame, Emanuel Lambert and Chike Ojukwu.
The rapper claims that Perry publicly renounced her Christian faith, and has tainted his song with lyrics about the Illuminati that is offensive to Christians.
On Thursday, Perry’s lawyer Christine Lepera said during closing arguments, “They’re trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone.”
Noting that Perry started her career as a Christian artist, Mr. Gray’s attorney Michael A. Kahn said, “They’re trying to shove Mr. Gray into some gospel music alleyway that no one ever visits,”
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The trial will now move to the penalty phase, in which the jury will determine how much Perry will owe for copying ‘Joyful Noise’, according to the jury.
