An American rapper of gospel, who accused the singer Katy Perry of plagiarism, was awarded Thursday 2.7 million dollars in damages (2.43 million euros) by a federal jury, the last showdown in date on copyright to shake the music industry.
The representatives of the singer want to appeal
The pop singer herself was forced to pay a little over 550,000 dollars to Marcus Gray (495,000 euros) - Flame for her artist name - after the jury determined that a "beat" used in her Dark song Horse e n 2013 constituted a copyright infringement. The decision comes after several days of trial in Los Angeles in which Katy Perry claimed to have never heard Marcus Gray's 2009 rap song Joyful Noise . The singer's representatives immediately indicated that they wanted to appeal.
Dark Horse by Katy Perry and ...:
... Joyful Noise by Marcus Gray:
The two superimposed songs to get an idea:
"The Dark Horse authors see this as a travesty of justice," said Christine Lepera, Katy Perry's lawyer. Marcus Gray's lawyers had asked for much higher compensation, around 20 million dollars (18 million euros). "These defendants have won millions and millions of dollars by this violation of the plaintiff's song," his attorney Michael Kahn told the court. During the trial, Katy Perry's counsel had argued that the underlying rhythm of both songs was "mundane", and thus could not enter the copyright field.
An instrumental phase of sixteen seconds
But Marcus Gray's lawyers quoted "an important part" of his "copied" song, referring to an instrumental phase of 16 seconds. Capitol Records, the label of Katy Perry, will have to pay $ 1.2 million in damages (1.08 million euros). And its producers will also have to pay. The singer, known worldwide since her hit I Kissed a Girl , performed her song Dark Horse at the 2015 Super Bowl, the American football final. Flame's Joyful Noise has been watched nearly four million times on YouTube.
Marcus Gray had accused Katy Perry of plagiarism as early as 2014. Copyright litigation has increased in recent years in the United States. The most emblematic remains the condemnation of Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for their hit Blurred lines (2013), accused of infringing the copyright of Marvin Gaye for his legendary title of 1977, Got to give it up .