A US court has ordered Katy Perry to pay a Christian rapper $550,000, roughly £454,000, of her own earnings from her 2013 song Dark Horse.
That amount is a part of the $2.7m (£2.2m) awarded to the Christian rapper, Flame, who has successfully sued the star for copying one of his songs.
Capitol Records, which is Katy’s label, will have to pay most of the total amount. Earlier this week, a US court found Katy, her producers, and all songwriters guilty of copyright infringement.
Katy Perry
The lawyers representing Flame claimed that Katy and her team had “copied an important part” of his song. The argument was over a musical part of Dark Horse’s production but somehow Katy and the people who wrote the lyrics for the track were also found liable.
“The writers of Dark Horse consider this a travesty of justice,” Katy’s attorney Christine Lepera said. Attorneys for Capitol Records told the court the label earned $31m (£26m) from Dark Horse, but after costs only made a profit of $630,000 (£520,000).
Many people disagree with this verdict, and say the jury must have been biased towards Flame in some way. Their arguments against the decision include comments on the structure of the song, the key, and the fact Katy’s “copied” riff uses 4 different notes and Flames uses on;y 3.
The singer’s legal team say they plan to appeal, if the case isn’t dismissed pending a defence motion.
