Katy Perry has won her appeal in 'Dark Horse' copyright claims

Earlier today, a judge ruled that the Katy Perry 2013 hit ‘Dark Horse’ did not infringe on the copyright of rapper Flame’s ‘Joyful Noise’.

Katy Perry has won the appeal over copyright claims regarding her song ‘Dark Horse’, with a judge ruling earlier today that the 2013 song did not infringe on the copyright of Christian rapper Flame’s track ‘Joyful Noise’.

Back in 2014, Flame sued Perry over the song ‘Dark Horse’, claiming that its musical arrangement bore similarity to his own track. After five years, 2019, a jury ruled in Flame’s favour, following which Perry was ordered to pay a $2.8 fine.

Perry, however, appealed to a higher court and won in 2020. Now, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has thrown out the penalty, saying: “Allowing a copyright over this material would essentially amount to allowing an improper monopoly over two-note pitch sequences or even the minor scale itself, especially in light of the limited number of expressive choices available when it comes to an eight-note repeated musical figure.”

The court statement further read: “The portion of the ‘Joyful Noise’ ostinato [repeated musical phrase] that overlaps with the ‘Dark Horse’ ostinato consists of a manifestly conventional arrangement of musical building blocks.”

“Because the use of similar pitch sequences in the ‘Joyful Noise’ and ‘Dark Horse’ ostinatos results only from the use of commonplace, unoriginal musical principles, it cannot be the basis for a copyright infringement claim on its own.” they said.

Perry and Flame’s case was unique in the sense that while the ‘eight-note musical figure’ on the two songs might have sounded similar, one needed to ascertain whether the particular piece warranted copyright protection or be considered a general progression that anyone could do.