In April, Judge Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had not plagiarized a 2015 song titled “oh why” of Sami Chokri in your success “Shape of You”.
Sheeran co-wrote “Shape of You” along with the Snow Patrol singer, Johnny McDaidand the producer stevemac (During the trial he used his legal name of Steven McCutcheon), who were co-defendants in the lawsuit.
Chokri’s legal team had argued that, through a publicity campaign and mutual friends, including the founder of SBTV, Jamal Edwards (who died unexpectedly shortly before the trial), Sheeran had had the opportunity to listen to and plagiarize Chokri’s song. However, in sentencing him, Mr. Zacaroli said: “I do not accept this. Mr. Chokri is undoubtedly a serious and talented songwriter, and while his management was unsurprisingly trying to create some hype around the release of the Solace EP, it met with limited success. In my opinion, the possibility that these attempts may have led him to come to Sheeran’s attention, either because someone he was associated with took a gamble or because he found it himself, is speculative at best.” .
In April, following Judge Zacaroli’s ruling, Sheeran released a video statement saying, “While we’re obviously happy with the outcome, I feel that claims like this are all too common now and we’ve become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that the settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim. It is really detrimental to the songwriting industry.”
Sheeran is believed to be still fighting another copyright lawsuit, over his song “Thinking Out Loud”and in 2016 he was sued for the song “Photography”. That case was settled out of court.
Source: Ambito
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