Ed Sheeran

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol's John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the 2017 song copied part of ...

The singer said he always credited other artists and told the court he had never heard the Oh Why song he was accused of ripping off. The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol's John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015's Oh Why by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch. Ed Sheeran has won a copyright case over his 2017 hit Shape Of You.

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol's John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015's “ ...

The stress of going to trial also hurts creativity, means less time to make music and takes an emotional toll, they said. “It is so painful to hear someone publicly and aggressively challenge your integrity,’’ the trio said. Andrew Sutcliffe, the lawyer for the co-writers of “Oh Why,’’ argued that there was an “indisputable 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.

The songwriter slammed what he described as a "culture" of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.

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British singer 'neither deliberately nor subconsciously' copied a phrase from song by Sami Chokri, judge says.

There is an impact on both us and the wider circle of songwriters everywhere.” Sheeran also said his reputation had been sullied by the allegations. This really does have to end.” They said the case had come at a cost to “creativity” and their mental health. The judge said that while there were “similarities” between the one-bar phrase that repeats the words “Oh why” in Chokri’s song and the repetition of “Oh I” in Sheeran’s, such similarities are “only a starting point” for a copyright infringement claim, and there are also “significant differences” between the phrases in the songs. “There are only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music and coincidences are bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released a day on Spotify, that is 22m songs a year, and there are only 12 notes that are available.”

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol's John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015's Oh ...

The stress of going to trial also hurts creativity, means less time to make music and takes an emotional toll, they said. “It is so painful to hear someone publicly and aggressively challenge your integrity,'' the trio said. Andrew Sutcliffe, the lawyer for the co-writers of Oh Why, argued that there was an “indisputable 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.

A judge ruled that the singer-songwriter had not plagiarised the 2015 song 'Oh Why' by Sami Chokri.

Forensic musicologists were called by both sides to argue the case, giving contrasting views. "But there is more than just a financial cost. There is a cost on creativity. We are not entities. We are not corporations. "There was a lot of talk throughout this case about cost," they said.