LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Jury deliberations began today in the trial of a lawsuit filed by a Christian rapper who claims Katy Perry lifted a portion of one of his songs for her 2013 hit âDark Horse,â while Perry's attorney says the beat in question is âcommonplaceâ and can't be copyrighted.
During the week-long trial of the copyright-infringement case, the nine-member jury in Los Angeles federal court heard from Perry herself as well as musicologists from both sides who parsed the contentious 16-second instrumental phrase. Perry's experts argued there is no similarity in the songs beyond generic elements, but plaintiff Marcus Gray alleges the beat was unique and had been lifted from his âJoyful Noiseâ song.
âThis was a case about taking,â Gray's attorney, Michael Kahn, said in his closing argument Thursday. âThe defendants copied an important part of (Gray's) song.â
The litigation was brought in 2014 by Gray, better known as Christian rapper Flame, against the Grammy-nominated singer and her collaborators. However, the creators of âDark Horseâ testified they had no knowledge of âJoyful Noise,â nor had they heard of Gray or the two other plaintiffs before the suit was filed.
Defense attorney Christine Lepera told jurors that the eerie, electronic beat could not be protected by copyright because it was merely a âcommon building blockâ of music.
âIt is commonplace expression,â she said, adding that the Perry song's âunremarkableâ beat is the only element the two tracks have in common.
âThere is no reasonable basis to assumeâ Perry and her collaborators ever heard âJoyful Noise,â Lepera said.
Unlike Perry's hit, Gray's song lacked âwidespread distribution,â and any contention that the Perry team had been exposed to it is âpure speculation,â she said.
Perry took the witness stand July 18 and assured the panel that âDark Horseâ was an entirely original work.
The 34-year-old singer testified that her song was developed after her collaborators presented a series of short instrumental passages, hoping to ignite some inspiration.
âIf something sparked my interest, I would go, `Hmm, I have some ideas,â' Perry testified during about a half-hour on the stand.
She said that after hearing an interesting passage, she and co- defendants Sarah Hudson, Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut began to fashion the tune that later appeared on her fourth studio album, âPrism,â and which she performed in a truncated version at the 2015 Super Bowl.
After a technical glitch caused attorneys to delay playing the recording for the jury last week, the Grammy Award-nominated singer drew laughs in the courtroom by offering to perform âDark Horseâ from the witness box.
In denying Perry's motion for early judgment last summer, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder wrote that the plaintiffs âhave demonstrated a triable issue of fact as to access because `Joyful Noise' achieved critical success, including a Grammy nomination, and was readily available and viewed millions of times on YouTube and MySpace.â
The judge said various issues in the case are âquestions of fact to be resolved by the jury.â
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