The documentary explores the copyright lawsuit surrounding the song Shake it Off, the highly popular and successful, Diamond certified single by Taylor Swift. The "writers" Hall and Butler claimed that Swift stole their lyrics and progression. This documentary fails to dive deep into the actual legality of the lawsuit or with actual court documentation, or legal filings.
The problem is that the writers Hall and Butler sold their rights years ago, and thus did not hold legal claim to the song any longer and failed to inform the courts. The owners who purchased the song from Hall and Butler sided with Swift. Once it was revealed to the courts that Hall and Butler had sold their rights, the lawsuit dissolved rapidly. Even another artist used the exact phrase and progression and performed their top 10 hit at an awards show prior to Shake it Off even being written and they did not sue that artist.
The lesson here that should have been discussed is the importance of maintaining your publishing rights. In this case, Hall and Butler sold their rights but still wanted to get paid for something they no longer owned. It would have made a more interesting documentary had they actually dealt with the importance of copyright and publishing rights, instead they failed to explain this critical hole in their case. Failure to explore the lack of publishing rights, the foundation of copyright lawsuits, seemed to reveal a potential biased narrative being pushed by the production company. Its unclear why they failed to include this detail of critical importance not only to this case, but to all cases. You must actually own the rights.
