British singer Ed Sheeran is facing a trial at the London High Court over the copyright infringement of his 2017 hit song, Shape Of You. The song from Ed Sheeran's album Divide broke many musical records.
But this is not the first time the songwriter has faced charges for copyright issues.
A lawsuit was filed against Ed Sheeran's song Photograph back in 2016. Sheeran later gave a part of ownership and paid around $5.2 million as part of a settlement, outside the court. This was followed by another copyright infringement case in 2018 for his popular song Thinking Out Loud.
Why Is Ed Sheeran Facing Court Charges?
Ed Sheeran now faces copyright charges for Shape Of You, where two other songwriters have accused him of copying parts of a song. During the court hearing process on March 7, Sheeran denied all allegations, saying that he did not take ideas from unknown songwriters. To prove his point, the pop star sang Blackstreet's No Diggity and Nina Simone's Feeling Good, demonstrating the melody being commonplace in pop music. He stated, "If you put them all in the same key, they'll sound the same".
The London High Court heard voice memos from the recording sessions of Shape Of You. In one of the voice memos, Sheeran was heard saying that the "Oh I" melody needs to be changed due to its resemblance with No Diggity by Blackstreet.
What Is The Problem With 'Shape Of You'?
Shape Of You was ranked number one for 14 weeks in the UK in 2017. It became the best-selling song of the year globally. But Chokri and O'Donoghue claim that Sheeran's "Oh I" hook from Shape Of You is "strikingly similar" to their 2015 track Oh Why, released by Sami Chokri under the stage name Sami Switch.
Sheeran has been alleged for copying parts of a song called Oh Why written by Ross O'Donoghue and Sami Chokri. This track was released back in 2015. Chokri and O'Donoghue have alleged that Sheeran has copied the "Oh I, Oh I, Oh I, Oh I" part from their original track, Oh Why. The barrister for Chokri-O'Donoghue, Andrew Sutcliffe QC claimed in court that Sheeran "borrows ideas and throws them into his songs, sometimes he will acknowledge it but sometimes he won't".
What Is Happening Now?
Ed Sheeran said that the challenged element of Shape Of You was "very short" in written evidence, stating that both the songs were "entirely commonplace". After barrister Sutcliffe told the star: "The evidence is overwhelming that at the time of writing Shape of You, your songwriting process involved collecting ideas," Sheeran replied saying "You say it's overwhelming, I don't agree with that", denying the claim that he is a "magpie" who copies other people's work without acknowledgement.
"Even so, if I had heard Oh Why at the time and had referenced it, I would have taken steps to clear it. I have always tried to be completely fair in crediting anyone who makes any contribution to any song I write," Sheeran stated. He agreed upon taking references from other works while writing a song, stating "I do refer to other works on occasion when I write, as do many songwriters. If there is a reference to another work, I notify my team so that steps can be taken to obtain clearance."
Chokri and O'Donoghue's barrister Andrew Sutcliffe alleged that Sheeran knew about Chokri before Shape Of You, where the singer gave a shout out to Sami Switch on stage, back in 2011. Sheeran denied the allegations, saying "This isn't stuff that's true".
Sheeran's Shape Of You continues to stand as the most played song of all time on Spotify. His royalties of around 20 million pounds have been frozen since Chokri and O'Donoghue claimed copyright infringement in 2018.