Ed Sheeran has won a copyright battle in UK court over his chart-topping 2017 hit “Shape of You,” after a judge ruled Wednesday (April 6) that the star did not copy the song from a little-known track.
The judge ruled that Sheeran’s mega hit, which spent 12 weeks atop the Hot 100, did not infringe a 2015 song called “Oh Why” released by an artist named Sami Chokri, who performs as Sami Switch, and music producer Ross O’Donoghue.
Sheeran quickly celebrated the ruling in a video posted to social media – and blasted what he called “baseless” lawsuits and the harm they’re doing to the music industry.
“While 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’s no base for the claim,” Sheeran said. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify.”
The ruling followed an 11-day trial in London last month, during which Sheeran repeatedly took the stand and fended off accusations that he was a “magpie” who borrows from other songwriters. The star also briefly sang from the witness stand.
In his decision, Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled there was no evidence that Sheeran had intentionally or “subconsciously” copied from “Oh Why” when he wrote “Shape of You.”
“While there are similarities between the OW (Oh Why) Hook and [aspects of “Shape of You”], there are also significant differences,” the judge concluded.
In his statement, Sheeran made a personal appeal about the toll taken by the case.
“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,” Sheeran said. “Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience and I hope that this ruling means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided.”
See Ed’s comments below.
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