Katy Perry and others who worked on her 2013 hit Dark Horse have been ordered to pay $2.78 million (Dhs 10.21 m) in damages to Christian rapper Flame. The pop singer was sued five years ago by Marcus Gray – professionally known as Flame – and two co-writers who claimed her 2013 hit was stolen from his and Lecrae’s song Joyful Noise, which was released in 2008.

A federal jury in California ruled that the pop star’s song infringes on the song.

Jurors had been told during the damages phase of the trial that the song had earned $31m (Dhs113m) from the single, album sales and concert DVD that featured the song.

Perry’s label Capitol Records claimed that after expenses for the song’s release were accounted for, just a fraction of that money was actually left over. Nine jurors determined that the track directly copied the underlying beat of Gray’s rap song despite both Perry and producer Dr Luke insisting they’d never heard it, as they don’t listen to Christian music.