Taylor Swift is facing a lawsuit from a songwriter who claims he first came up with a famous phrase from her hit Shake It Off.

Jessie Braham claims Swift's hit borrows heavily from a song he wrote in 2013 called Haters Gone Hate, editors at TMZ.com report.

He has claimed ownership of the phrase "haters gone hate", and alleged Swift used it more than 70 times in her song.

His lyrics are, "Haters gone hate/players gone play. Watch out for the fakers/they'll fake you every day."

Some of the lyrics in Swift's 2014 hit are, "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

Braham claims Swift's chorus is a rip-off of his song.

The songwriter has demanded $42 million from Swift, and wants his name added to any new release of Shake It Off.

A representative for Swift has yet to comment on the report.