Katy Perry to pay thousands to Christian rapper in ‘Dark Horse’ copyright row

Katy Perry has been ordered to pay a Christian rapper $550,000 (£454,000) in a copyright row over her 2013 hit song ‘Dark Horse’.

Gospel artist Flame, real name Marcus Gray, successfully sued the star for copying his 2008 song ‘Joyful Noise’ and was awarded $2.7million (£2.2million) by a US court.

While Katy’s label Capitol Records will have to pay out most of the money, she has been ordered to pay $550,000 from her own pocket.

While nine jurors agreed that Katy’s song copied the underlying beat of Flame’s single, the award is just a fraction of what Flame’s original claim to the court had been.

He argued he was owned $20million (£17million), with his lawyer Michael Kahn adding: “These defendants made millions and millions of dollars from their infringement of the plaintiffs' song.”

Katy, her producers and songwriters were all found guilty of copyright infringement earlier this week, bringing to an end legal proceedings that began in 2014.

Giving evidence during the trial in California, Katy claimed she had never heard Flame’s song before recording ‘Dark Horse’ with producers Dr Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut, adding none of the group listened to Christian music.

The rapper argued back saying they could have heard it on YouTube, MySpace, Spotify or even at the Grammy Awards in 2009 where his whole album was nominated for an award.

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