Ed Sheeran wins four-year U.K. copyright case over his smash hit 'Shape of You'

Grammy-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran has won the four-year High Court copyright battle over his 2017 chart-topping track ‘Shape of You.’

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ed Sheeran won the U.K. copyright battle on Wednesday, then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial. The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015’s ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.

“Whilst we’re obviously happy with the result, I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” the prominent singer-songwriter said in a video posted on Twitter. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

The singer said he always credited other artistes and told the court he had never heard the ‘Oh Why’ song he was accused of ripping off. “There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music, coincidence is bound to happen,” Sheeran said. “I just want to say: I’m not an entity, I’m not a corporation, I’m a human being and a father and a husband and a son. Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience and I hope that this ruling means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided.”

Ed’s been dealing with a lawsuit recently and he wanted to share a few words about it all pic.twitter.com/hnKm7VFcor

— Ed Sheeran HQ (@edsheeran) April 6, 2022

Ed Sheeran had been involved in a legal battle with grime artiste Sami Chokri, who performs as Sami Switch, and music producer Ross O’Donoghue. Andrew Sutcliffe, the lawyer for the co-writers of ‘Oh Why,’ argued that there was an “indisputable similarity between the works.” He claimed that Sheeran had ‘Oh Why’ in his head “consciously or unconsciously” when ‘Shape of You’ was written in 2016. During the 11-day trial, Sheeran denied allegations that he “borrows” ideas from unknown songwriters without acknowledgement and said he has always been fair in crediting people who contribute to his albums.

The judge, Antony Zacaroli, concluded there was no evidence that Ed Sheeran had thought of writing the hit before October 2016. He acknowledged there were “similarities between the one-bar phrase” in ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Oh Why,’ but said “such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement” of copyright. After studying the musical elements, he said there were “differences between the relevant parts” of the songs, which “provide compelling evidence that the 'Oh I' phrase” in Sheeran's song “originated from sources other than Oh Why”.

Also Read: Ed Sheeran to perform at 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards

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