The London High Court ruled on Wednesday that the 31-year-old did not plagiarize parts of the melody from another song. Judge Antony Zacaroli said Sheeran “neither intentionally nor subconsciously” took over parts of “Oh Why”. He saw similarities but also significant differences in the passage in question.
The musicians Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue had accused Sheeran of taking parts of the melody of their song “Oh Why”, released two years earlier. Her attorney, Andrew Sutcliffe, said in court that Sheeran was undoubtedly “very talented, he’s a genius.” But sometimes he is also a thieving “magpie”: He borrows the ideas of others for his songs and denies it when he thinks “that he can do it with impunity”.
Sheeran sang to refute allegations
Sheeran and his two co-authors, Steven McCutcheon and John McDaid, denied the allegations. During the trial, Sheeran sang and hummed tunes, among other things, to refute the allegations. To illustrate how common the “Shape of You” tune in question is, he sang and hummed, among other things, Nina Simone’s classic “Feeling Good” and the ’90s R&B hit “No Diggity” by the band Blackstreet.
You can see for yourself here:
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Sheeran co-wrote “Shape of You” with McDaid and McCutcheon, and the song released in 2017 is considered his biggest hit to date. With more than three billion views, it is the most streamed song on Spotify. According to the BBC, Sheeran and his two co-writers earn the equivalent of around six million euros a year on the song. A tenth of that had been frozen during the litigation. Sheeran had asked the court to clarify the allegations before filing the lawsuit.
Sheeran was relieved about the decision. He addressed his fans in a short video on Instagram. “I hope that with this judgment, unfounded claims like this can be avoided in the future,” he said. “There are only a certain number of notes and very few chords used in popular music, and coincidences are bound to happen when 60,000 songs are released on Spotify every day.”
Sheeran also made it clear that the allegations had affected him personally. “I am not a legal entity or corporation, I am a human being, I am a father, a husband and a son,” Sheeran continued. Legal disputes are not a pleasant affair. In a written statement with his two co-authors, Sheeran wrote, “As long as we’re involved in litigation, we’re not making music or playing concerts.”
Source: Nachrichten
