Jury: Katy Perry copied Christian rap beat

In her 2013 hit “Dark Horse,” Katy Perry sings, “I’m capable of anything … and everything.” A unanimous jury in Los Angeles decided Monday she was capable of copyright infringement. Now it’s deciding how much Perry and her co-writers and producers owe in damages to Christian artist Flame. Flame released “Joyful Noise” in 2009 and sued Perry in 2014—the year before the 34-year-old pop superstar sang “Dark Horse” at the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show.

Were the songs really that similar? The lyrics weren’t, but the beat was, the jury ruled after hearing court testimonies and recordings of both songs back-to-back in their entirety. The jury wasn’t convinced by Perry’s argument: “They’re trying to own basic building blocks of music.” When Perry’s lawyers ran into technical difficulties playing a recording of “Dark Horse,” Perry offered to perform it live in court. A tech fix made the performance unnecessary.