Jury Rules Katy Perry's 'Dark Horse' Copied 2009 Christian Rap Song!

On Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom, a nine-member federal jury ruled Katy Perry‘s 2013 song Dark Horse copied a 2009 Christian rap track called Joyful Noise.

Marcus Gray (who also goes by his stage name Flame) and his two co-authors — Emanuel Lambert and Chike Ojukwu — filed the copyright infringement lawsuit five years ago, alleging the pop star and her producers stole a key 16-second musical riff from their tune.

Among those who were found liable include Perry, Sarah Hudson (who wrote only the words), Juicy J (who wrote only the rap), Capital Records, and the producers who came up with the beat: Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut.

According to Gray’s attorneys, the beat and instrumental line featured through nearly half of Dark Horse is substantially similar to those of Joyful Noise.

However, the starlet and her co-writers testified that none of them had heard the song or heard of Gray before the lawsuit, nor did they listen to Christian music.

Additionally, the American Idol judge’s attorneys argued the song sections in question use basic musical elements that should be available to all songwriters.

Perry’s lawyer Christine Lepera said during closing arguments on Thursday:

“They’re trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone.”

However, Gray’s counsel argued Joyful Noise had success in its niche market, and that Perry and co. may have heard it at the Grammy Awards or seen it on YouTube or MySpace, where the song was played millions of times.

The case now goes to a penalty phase, where the jury will decide how much Perry and other defendants owe for copyright infringement.

Perry was not in the Los Angeles courtroom when the verdict was read.

However, what is still pending is a motion from Perry’s lawyers on Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder to rule that no reasonable jury could find copyright infringement based on the evidence presented at trial.

Dark Horse — the third single off of Perry’s 2013 album Prism — spent four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in early 2014, and was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2015 Grammys.

Earlier this month, when Perry took the stand to testify, her attorneys had trouble playing her song over the courtroom’s sound system.

In response, she said to laughs: