Perry and her collaborators were found liable for stealing a beat from the 2008 Christian rap song 'Joyful Noise' last July.
Attorneys for Katy Perry and her “Dark Horse” collaborators are demanding a retrial in the copyright infringement case that resulted in a $2.78 million judgment against Perry, Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (Dr. Luke) and others last July.
In the latest volley fired in the ongoing legal battle, defense attorneys characterize the jury’s finding that Perry and her associates lifted a beat from Christian rapper Flame's (a.k.a. Marcus Gray) 2008 track “Joyful Noise” without permission “a travesty of justice.” They claim the plaintiffs failed to satisfy both extrinsic and intrinsic tests of “substantial similarity” between the two tracks and likewise failed to establish that “Joyful Noise” was widely disseminated enough to prove the “Dark Horse” team had access to it.
“No amount of rhetoric can alter the evidentiary trial record, or how that record should have been measured under the proper burdens of proof and legal standards for access and substantial similarity consistent with the instructions given,” reads the motion, which was filed on Dec. 27 in U.S. District Court in California. “There is only one outcome that comports with the legal standards applied to this trial record: no copyright infringement was proved by Plaintiffs as a matter of law.”