Ed Sheeran wins high court copyright trial
Ed Sheeran has won his High Court copyright trial.
The artist was accused by two songwriters of ripping off part of one of their songs for his hit Shape Of You.
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
The song in question was Oh Why by Sami Chokri, a grime artist who goes by the name Sami Switch.
Ed and his co-writers, Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and producer Steve Mac, were accused of plagiarising part of the track.
However, following a March trial, Mr. Justice Zacaroli said Ed, "neither deliberately nor subconsciously," copied a hook from the song when writing the, "Oh I," phrase for Shape Of You.
The judge admitted that there are, "similarities," between the OW (Oh Why) hook and the OI (Oh I) phrase.
But he concluded that there are also, "significant differences," and that, "such similarities are, however, only a starting point for a possible infringement action."
He also said that, "compelling evidence," had been provided to show that Shape Of You, "originated from sources other than, 'Oh Why', and that claims Sheeran had heard the song before writing his own were, "no more," than, "speculative."
Therefore, the judge has ruled in Ed's favour.
