Katy Perry, her collaborators issue statement following Dark Horse judgement, label it 'travesty of justice'

A day after Katy Perry, her collaborators, and her record label Capitol Records were asked by the jury to pay $ 2.78 million as plagiarism charge s, the writers of Perry’s hit song ‘Dark Horse’ issued a statement labelling jury’s decision as a “travesty of justice.” The statement also stated that the makers will continue to fight to “rectify the injustice.” [caption id=“attachment_7100281” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Katy Perry in a still from Dark Horse. Twitter[/caption] The statement, obtained by Variety, reads as follows — “The writers of ‘Dark Horse’ view the verdicts as a travesty of justice. There is no infringement. There was no access of substantial similarity. The only thing in common is unprotectable expression — evenly spaced “C and “B” notes — repeated. People including musicologists from all over are expressing their dismay over this. We will continue to fight at all appropriate levels to rectify the injustice." This statement has been jointly issued by Perry’s attorney, Christine Lapera, on behalf of Perry herself, producers Dr Luke (Lukasz Gottwald), Cirkut (Henry Walter) and Max Martin (Karl Sandberg); rapper Juicy J (Jordan Houston), and lyricist Sarah Hudson, adds Variety. The jury on 29 July found that ‘Dark Horse’ improperly copied a 2009 Christian rap song. The verdict by a nine-member federal jury in a Los Angeles courtroom came five years after Marcus Gray and two co-authors, first sued in 2014 alleging ‘Dark Horse’ stole from ‘Joyful Noise,’ a song Gray released under the stage name Flame. It was an underdog victory for Gray, a relatively obscure artist, once known as Flame. His five-year-old lawsuit survived constant court challenges, and a trial against top-flight attorneys for Perry and the five other music-industry heavyweights who wrote the song. Out of the $ 2.78 million, Perry herself was hit for just over $550,000, with Capitol Records responsible for the vast majority of the money. ‘Dark Horse,’ a hybrid of pop, trap and hip-hop sounds that was the third single of Perry’s 2013 album ‘Prism,’ spent four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in early 2014, and earned a Grammy nomination for Perry, who performed the song during her 2015 Super Bowl halftime show.