British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran on April 6, 2022, won his copyright trial at London’s High Court after a judge ruled that his hit song “Shape of You” did not lift musical phrases from another track.
Judge Antony Zacaroli said that, Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from British grime track, “Oh Why”, when writing the worldwide smash hit.“Shape of You”, released in 2017, remains the most-streamed song ever on Spotify, with more than three billion streams.
It won Sheeran, 31, a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance. He, along with several others, has a writing credit on the track.
But two other songwriters, Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, alleged that the song had musical similarities to one they wrote called “Oh Why”, performed under Chokri’s stage-name Sami Switch.
Judge Zacaroli ruled on Wednesday that “there are obvious similarities” between hooks in the two songs, but that there were also “important differences”.
Zacaroli also said that the two phrases “play very different roles in their respective songs.”Sheeran attended the court during the 11-day trial, bursting into song and humming musical scales and melodies as he was questioned over how the song was written.
The singer denied he “borrows” ideas from unknown songwriters and told court he “always tried to be completely fair” in crediting contributors.
Lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe, representing the aggrieved songwriters, told the judge that, Sheeran was a “magpie” who “borrows ideas” and will sometimes not acknowledge them.
Sheeran’s lawyers told the High Court that he and his co-writers have no memory of having heard the song “Oh Why” at the time.
The PRS for Music, which pays out royalties for the use of music, has temporarily halted royalty payments.Attendees at the high-profile trial inadvertently heard a snippet for free when an unreleased track was accidentally aired in court.
One of the lawyers said the incident happened “by mistake” through the use of an iTunes account on the computer of Steven McCutcheon, one of the co-writers of “Shape of You”.
Source: channelstv.com
Edited by: Ngozi Anna Akunne.
