Three days after a federal jury ruled that Katy Perry's 2013 hit "Dark Horse" had improperly copied another artist's song, the singer was hit with sizable damages.
During a hearing on Thursday to determine damages, a jury found that Perry and her musical collaborators, including producer Dr. Luke, who worked with her on the single, will have to pay $2.78 million, ET has learned.
The jury awarded the sizable sum to Christian rapper Marcus Gray -- who performs under the stage name "Flame" -- and his two co-writers on the 2009 single "Joyful Noise" -- the song that a jury decided Perry's tune had significantly copied.
Perry will be on the hook for $550,000 of the awarded damages, ET has learned, while Capitol Records -- which released the song as part of 2013 album, Prism -- will be responsible for the remaining sum.
Gray and the song's co-writers filed the lawsuit over five years ago. The plaintiffs argued that the beat, instrumental line and several other acoustic elements of "Dark Horse" directly stole from "Joyful Noise."
Meanwhile, Perry, the song's other co-authors, and Dr. Luke, testified that they had never heard of Gray or the song "Joyful Noise" before they were sued.
However, Gray's attorneys argued that the song was streamed millions of times on Spotify and YouTube, and that the track appeared on an album nominated for a GRAMMY, so it wouldn't have been difficult for the writers to have been exposed to the song before penning "Dark Horse."
"Our clients filed this lawsuit five years ago seeking justice and fair compensation for the unauthorized taking of their valuable creation," the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a statement released to ET after Thursday's hearing. "It has been a long and arduous path, but they are quite pleased to have received the justice they sought."
Attorney Christine Lepera released a statement to ET on behalf of the writers of "Dark Horse," who "view the verdicts as a travesty of justice."
"There is no infringement. There was no access or substantial similarity. The only thing in common is unprotectable expression -- evenly spaced "C" and "B" notes -- repeated. People including musicologists from all over are expressing their dismay over this," the statement read. "We will continue to fight at all appropriate levels to rectify the injustice."
