A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Katy Perry in a “Dark Horse” copyright lawsuit.

In 2014, rapper Marcus Gray, whose stage name is Flame, had sued Perry, claiming that the singer had ripped off his song “Joyful Noise” for her “Dark Horse.” Jurors awarded him $2.8 million.

However, a judge overturned that verdict in 2020 on the grounds that the “ostinato” Perry allegedly copied was too simple for copyright protection.

On Thursday, March 10, by a 3-to-0 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld that decision.

“The portion of the ‘Joyful Noise’ ostinato that overlaps with the ‘Dark Horse’ ostinato consists of a manifestly conventional arrangement of musical building blocks,” the appeals court wrote. “Allowing a copyright over this material would essentially amount to allowing an improper monopoly over two-note pitch sequences or even the minor scale itself.”

The ruling ends an eight-year long trial, barring a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Perry’s “Dark Horse” had spent 57 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, including four weeks at No. 1, in early 2014.

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