Ed Sheeran, the British singer, has won a copyright case over ‘Shape of You’, his 2017 Grammy-winning song.
In 2018, Sami Chokri, whose stage name is Sami Switch, had accused Sheeran of copying a refrain of his song.
He had claimed the “Oh I” hook in the British singer’s track was similar to an ‘Oh why’ refrain in his own 2015 track.
But after four years of back and forth over the lawsuits, Anthony Zacaroli, a UK judge, ruled on Wednesday that the songwriter had not plagiarised the ‘Oh Why’ by Chokri.
“While there are similarities between the ‘OW (Oh Why) Hook’ and the ‘OI (Oh I) Phrase’, there are also significant differences,” the judge held.
“I am satisfied that Mr Sheeran did not subconsciously copy ‘Oh Why’ in creating ‘Shape’.”
Reacting to the judgment in a video shared on his Twitter page, Ed Sheeran described the lawsuit as “baseless”, adding that “coincidence is bound to happen.”
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
“Whilst we’re obviously happy with the result I feel like claims like this are way too common now and it’s become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking them to court, even if there’s no basis for the claim,” he said.
“It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. Coincidence is bound to happen if sixty thousand songs is being released every day on Spotify. 22 million songs a year, there are only 12 notes that are available.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the pain and hurt suffered from both sides of this case, I just want to say I’m not an entity or a corporation. I’m a human being, a father, a husband, and a son. Those suits are not a pleasant experience and I hope this ruling it means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided.”
‘Shape of You’ was the UK’s best-selling song of 2017; Spotify’s most-streamed ever and it also won the 2018 Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance.
The song was co-written by Ed Sheeran, John McDaid, Kandi L. Burruss, Kevin Jerome Briggs, Steve Mac and Tameka D. Cottle.
Watch ‘Shape Of You’ below:
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