Grammy Award-winning composer Ed Sheeran on Wednesday won a copyright battle in the UK for his 2017 hit “Shape of You”, and then criticized what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits aimed at squeezing money from eager artists to avoid the expense of a trial.
The British pop star and his co-authors, John McDaid of Snow Patrol and producer Steven McCutcheon, denied allegations that the song copied part of Sami Chokri's 2015 “Oh Why”, which is presented under the name Sami Switch.
“While we are obviously happy with the outcome, I think that claims like this are all too common now and have become a culture where a claim is filed with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheerhan said in a video published in Twitter. “It's really detrimental to the songwriting industry.”
Andrew Sutcliffe, the lawyer for the co-authors of “Oh Why”, argued that there was an “undisputed similarity between the works”. He claimed that Sheeran had “Oh Why” in his head “consciously or unconsciously” when “Shape of You” was written in 2016.
“He borrows ideas and puts them into his songs, sometimes he admits it, sometimes he doesn't,” he said. “It depends on who you are and whether you think you can do it with impunity,” he added.
The plaintiffs alleged that the refrain “Oh I, Oh I, Oh I” in the chorus of “Shape Of You” was “surprisingly similar” to the line “Oh Why, Oh Why, Oh Why” in their song.
During the 11-day trial, Sheeran denied allegations that he “borrows” ideas from unknown composers without recognition and said he has always been fair in giving credit to the people who contribute to his albums.
Copyright payments for “Shape of You”, estimated at 20 million pounds (26 million dollars, 24 million euros) according to The Telegraph newspaper, were suspended by the agency that manages them.
In Wednesday's ruling, High Court Judge Antony Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor unconsciously” copied a phrase from “Oh Why” when writing his big hit.
“Shape of You” was the best-selling song in the UK in 2017, with around 3 billion listens on Spotify and nearly 6 billion views on YouTube.
(with information from AP and AFP)
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