Katy Perry wins copyright infringement appeal for song ‘Dark Horse’

Marcus ‘Flame’ Gray sued singer in 2014

Katy Perry has won an appeal against a copyright infringement claim for her 2013 song “Dark Horse”.

In 2014, Christian rapper Flame (real name Marcus Gray) sued Perry and others involved in the track.

He claimed that parts of “Dark Horse” had been plagiarised from his song “Joyful Noise”.

Jurors initially decided that the similarities were enough to uphold Gray’s claim, and he was awarded $2.8m (£2.1m).

However, a judge reversed the verdict in 2020 on the basis of the eight-note riff used in Perry’s song being too simple for copyright protection.

On Thursday (10 March), the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld that decision by a 3-0 vote. In their ruling, they said that a decision against Perry would have dangerous consequences for future creativity.

“The portion of the ‘Joyful Noise’ ostinato that overlaps with the ‘Dark Horse’ ostinato consists of a manifestly conventional arrangement of musical building blocks,” wrote the appeals court.

Katy Perry (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

“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.”

With this decision, the eight-year legal battle has concluded, unless Gray decides to take the case to the US Supreme Court.

“Dark Horse” reached a peak position of number four in the UK charts, and features a verse from rapper Juicy J.