Ed Sheeran lawsuit

2022 - 4 - 6

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Ed Sheeran wins 'Shape of You' copyright lawsuit: 'Coincidence is ... (Globalnews.ca)

A judge ruled Ed Sheeran had not plagiarized his hit song 'Shape of You,' despite accusations he stole a melody from Sami Switch's 2015 song, 'Oh Why.'

I’m a human being, I’m a father, I’m a husband, I’m a son.” “It is so painful to hear someone publicly and aggressively challenge your integrity,” the three songwriters said in a statement. According to the BBC, while on the witness stand, the star was often abrupt as he explained how he shared royalties with writers who inspired him. “It is so painful to have to defend yourself against accusations that you have done something that you haven’t done, and would never do.” During the trial, Sheeran also sang Nina Simone’s Feeling Good and Blackstreet’s No Diggity in an attempt to prove the melody he was accused of stealing was commonly used in pop music. Sheeran also argued that this has “become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there’s no base of the claim.”

Ed Sheeran wins Shape of You copyright case, slams 'damaging ... (CBC.ca)

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit Shape of You on Wednesday, then slammed what he described as a ...

"It is so painful to hear someone publicly and aggressively challenge your integrity," the trio said. He claimed that Sheeran had Oh Why in his head "consciously or unconsciously" when Shape of You was written in 2016. The stress of going to trial also hurts creativity, means less time to make music and takes an emotional toll, they said.

Ed Sheeran wins court battle over Shape of You plagiarism accusation (The Guardian)

British singer 'neither deliberately nor subconsciously' copied a phrase from song by Sami Chokri, judge says.

There is an impact on both us and the wider circle of songwriters everywhere.” Sheeran also said his reputation had been sullied by the allegations. This really does have to end.” They said the case had come at a cost to “creativity” and their mental health. The judge said that while there were “similarities” between the one-bar phrase that repeats the words “Oh why” in Chokri’s song and the repetition of “Oh I” in Sheeran’s, such similarities are “only a starting point” for a copyright infringement claim, and there are also “significant differences” between the phrases in the songs. “There are only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music and coincidences are bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released a day on Spotify, that is 22m songs a year, and there are only 12 notes that are available.”

Ed Sheeran Calls Plagiarism Lawsuits 'Damaging' to Songwriting ... (Vulture)

Ed Sheeran won a lawsuit by singer Sami Chokri accusing him of plagiarizing his song “Oh Why” for “Shape of You.” The singer posted a Twitter video ...

“There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. The judge ruled that Sheeran and his co-writers John McDaid and Steven McCutcheon had “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied Chokri’s song. What do Ed Sheeran and the Chainsmokers have in common?

Ed Sheeran wins a copyright battle over 'Shape of You' (NPR)

The songwriter 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.

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Ed Sheeran Defeats “Shape of You” Plagiarism Lawsuit (Pitchfork)

Sheeran did not copy the British songwriter Sami Chokri in writing the song's hook, a judge ruled.

After the verdict, Sheeran said on social media that “coincidences are bound to happen if 60,000 songs are released every day on Spotify,” adding that he is “not a corporation.” It was revealed during the trial that Sheeran has written 25 songs with the National’s Aaron Dessner, as the BBC’s Mark Savage noted.

Ed Sheeran says 'baseless claims' are 'damaging' to songwriting ... (USA TODAY)

Ed Sheeran and his co-writers were accused of copying part of "Oh Why" by Sam Chokri, who performs under Sami Switch, for his 2017 hit "Shape of You."

"It is so painful to hear someone publicly and aggressively challenge your integrity,'' the trio said. Andrew Sutcliffe, the lawyer for the co-writers of "Oh Why,'' argued that there was an "indisputable similarity between the works." The stress of going to trial also hurts creativity, means less time to make music and takes an emotional toll, they said.