Katy Perry Fighting Claims She Ripped Off Song

Court documents claim that one of pop star Katy Perry’s songs has become a subject of controversy. The singer is dealing with accusations that she claimed work from another songwriter as her own. Both the songwriter and Perry’s team have shared their sides of the story.

A Songwriter Claimed Her 2014 Song Was Similar To A 2020 Katy Perry Song

Perry is considered one of the best-selling musicians in history. In 2008, she first rose to fame with the album One of the Boys. Perry is also known for her time as a judge on American Idol.

However, it’s come to light that one of Perry’s songs has come under fire. Courts documents have revealed a songwriter named Michele Ronk has filed a federal lawsuit against the star.

Katy Perry | YouTube — Katy Perry – YouTube

According to In Touch Weekly, the suit was filed in October of 2020. Notably, Ronk had filed the suit without the help of a lawyer.

Ronk described herself as a singer and songwriter “creating musical compositions for more than a decade.” She also described herself as having “a passion for advocating for mental illness support.”

As the suit claims, Ronk wrote a song, “Upgraded 2.0,” back in 2014, allegedly taking inspiration from her own life. As she noted, the song “told a heartfelt story of enduring a dark and hard beginning, learning lessons, and triumphantly and thankfully becoming a new person through the help of Jesus.”

However, Ronk felt Perry’s song, “Smile,” which came out in 2020, was similar to “Upgraded 2.0.” The suit alleges Perry’s song uses around 12 similar story elements or lyrics that “make up the selection and arrangement and tell the story.”

As Ronk claimed, Perry and her team allegedly used “different synonyms, at times, to attempt to obscure the similarities in the misappropriated lyrical phrases and selection of elements to the story.”

In particular, Ronk claimed to have sung, “I’ve been upgraded 2.0, the old me faded … I’ve been reinstated. As she pointed out, Perry’s song has the lines, “Remodeled, Used to be dull, now I sparkle.”

Perry’s Team Also Shared Their Side Of The Story

Similarly, Ronk also brought up her lyrics, “I messed up all over the place, not knowing myself.” She then compared it to Perry’s lyrics, “Not myself, not my best.”

According to Ronk, Katy and her team didn’t contact Ronk for permission or pay for the use of her song. However, Perry and the other defendants denied these accusations.

As Perry’s lawyer noted, “[Michele] is an aspiring singer / songwriter who, like many artists, writes music inspired by her own experiences. Although [Michele] has shared lyrics to her private Facebook page, she has not yet, but hopes to one day, share her music with the world.”

As he continued, the lawyer claimed Perry’s 2020 song was inspired by her own battles with depression. He also mused Ronk identified with the song “as many likely did.”

Perry’s team also pointed out that Ronk did not properly copyright her material. They also pointed no evidence suggested Perry otherwise had access to Ronk’s song.

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In 2022, a judge dismissed the claims against Perry. As the order read, “the court finds the identified lyrical passages of ‘Upgraded 2.0’ and ‘Smile’ are not sufficiently similar to establish striking similarity and a presumption of access, as a matter of law.”

Ronk allegedly filed an appeal of the judge’s decision to dismiss her case. At the time, the songwriter was represented by a Los Angeles attorney.

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