Ed Sheeran has emerged victorious from a protracted copyright legal dispute. The Grammy winner was accused by two composers, Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, of copying some specific lines of lyrics from their 2015 song, Oh Why.
Court Says Ed Sheeran Did Not Copy Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue’s Song
Nevertheless, in his judgment, Justice Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran did not in any way copy a line of lyrics from the track ‘Oh Why’ when penning the lyrics of his hit song ‘Shape of You’. During the trial, Sheeran had rebutted allegations that he obtains thoughts from anonymous lyricists without their knowledge.
Ed Sheeran Wins ‘Shape Of You’ Copyright Legal Battle
The 2021 ‘MTV Europe Music Award winner for Best Song’ claimed that he maintains a fair stature in acknowledging people who help him complete his albums. Reacting to the judgment, the ‘Shape of You’ songwriters Sheeran, McDaid, and Mac, disclosed in a joint statement that the legal tussle caused a lot of pain. Part of the statement read, “There is a cost on our mental health.
The stress this causes on all sides is immense. It affects so many aspects of our everyday lives and the lives of our families and friends. We are not corporations. We are not entities. We are human beings. We are songwriters. We do not want to diminish the hurt and pain anyone has suffered through this, and at the same time, we feel it is important to acknowledge that we too have had our own hurts and life struggles throughout the course of this process.”
Ian Mill QC, their representative also revealed that the lawsuit should have long been stroked out by the court. He maintained that the tussle against them does not hold any water. On the contrary, counsel to Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, Andrew Sutcliffe QC, described Sheeran as a ‘magpie’.
The lawyer maintained that the singer ‘habitually copies’ other singers and that he may have listened to ‘Oh Why’ before composing the lyrics of ‘Shape of You’. ‘Shape of You’was the chart-topping song of 2017 in the UK and the most-streamed track in the globe at some point.
