The response came after Taylor asked to cancel a trial over an earlier song that also mentions “playas” and “haters.”
. Their line was “playas, they gonna play” and “haters, they gonna hate”; in Swift’s track, she sings, “‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”in September 2014 and spent four weeks atop the chart. The song ultimately spent 50 weeks on the Hot 100, tied with Swift’s “You Belong With Me” for her longest-charting single.
Two weeks later, Swift’s attorneys argued that the ruling was clearly wrong and urged Judge Fitzgerald to issue a rare ruling reversing himself. They said the “players” and “haters” lyrics were far too simple for Hall and Butler to sue Swift, and warned that “no other court” had ever allowed such a case to proceed to trial.
In Friday’s rebuttal, Hall and Butler’s attorneys said such an argument was not only procedurally improper, but was also legally flawed. They said copyright precedent clearly allows them to sue Swift for copying the so-called selection and arrangement of their lyrical choices, even if some individual aspects of their lyrics aren’t protected.