Singer Katy Perry is being sued together with her recording company for an alleged copyright infringement in respect of the singer’s 2008 hit, “Dark Horse.”
Attorney Michael A. Kahn of St. Louis-based law firm Capes, Sokol, Goodman & Sarachan, P. C., filed the copyright infringement complaint against pop star Katy Perry and Capitol records, LLC, et. al., on Wednesday July 1, 2014, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on behalf of Christian hip hop singers who allege that Perry’s hit song “Dark Horse” infringed the copyright of the singers’ Christian song “Joyful Noise,” which was released in 2008.
The lawsuit alleges:
2. By any measure, Defendants’ “Dark Horse” song is a mega-hit. Defendant Katy Perry has performed the song on national television and at sold-out concerts around the nation. It has been at or near the top of various Billboard and other music charts since its release last September. Millions of digital copies have been sold and downloaded. The song has been in near constant play on Top 40 radio stations throughout the United States. As of this week, more than 435 million viewers worldwide have watched the official music video of the Dark Horse song on YouTube
3. By any measure, the Dark Horse song also constitutes an infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyright in their Christian gospel song Joyful Noise, released five years before Dark Horse. Specifically, Defendants’ unauthorized reproduction, distribution, and public performance of Plaintiffs’ musical composition constitute infringement of plaintiffs’ exclusive rights in their copyright.
4. And by any measure, the devoutly religious message of Joyful Noise has been irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in Dark Horse. Indeed, the music video of Dark Horse generated widespread accusations of blasphemy and an online petition signed by more than 60,000 demanding removal of an offensive religious image from the video.
