Ed Sheeran wins ‘Shape of You’ copyright case

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit song “Shape of You”.

The British pop star and his co-writers denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015’s “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.

The lawyer for the co-writers of “Oh Why,” argued that there was an “indisputable similarity between the works.”

During the 11-day trial, Sheeran denied allegations that he takes ideas from unknown songwriters without acknowledgement.

In Wednesday’s ruling, High Court Judge Antony Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from “Oh Why” while writing his song.

Sheeran shared his thoughts on the lawsuit in a new video posted on Twitter.

Ed’s been dealing with a lawsuit recently and he wanted to share a few words about it all pic.twitter.com/hnKm7VFcor

— Ed Sheeran HQ (@edsheeran) April 6, 2022

“Whilst we’re obviously happy with the result, I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

“Shape of You” was the biggest-selling song in the U.K. in 2017.