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Ed Sheeran awaits verdict over copyright court battle

Published:Friday | March 25, 2022 | 12:13 AM
Musician Ed Sheeran arrives at the Rolls Building, High Court in central London in a March 15, 2022 file photograph. Songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue claimed Sheeran’s 2017 hit song ‘Shape of You’ infringes parts of one of their songs. S
AP
Musician Ed Sheeran arrives at the Rolls Building, High Court in central London in a March 15, 2022 file photograph. Songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue claimed Sheeran’s 2017 hit song ‘Shape of You’ infringes parts of one of their songs. Sheeran denied he ‘borrows’ ideas from unknown songwriters.

An 11-day trial over the copyright of Ed Sheeran’s hit song Shape of You concluded in London on Tuesday, with the judge saying he would take some time to consider his ruling.

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, deny accusations that the 2017 song copies part of a 2015 song called Oh Why by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.

Lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe, representing the Oh Why co-writers, argued there was an “indisputable similarity between the works” and suggested the chances of two songs that “correlate” appearing within months of each other was “minutely small”.

The lawyer claimed that Sheeran had Oh Why “consciously or unconsciously in his head” when Shape of You was written in 2016. He also alleged that Sheeran, who attended the hearing throughout, was dishonest and evasive in giving evidence to the trial.

Sheeran and his co-writers say they have disclosed material to the trial and do not remember hearing Oh Why before the court case.

Justice Antony Zacaroli said Tuesday he would deliver his judgment “as soon as I can”.

Shape of You was the biggest selling song in the UK in 2017.