Ed Sheehan has been ordered to disclose exactly who he follows online as a legal argument over his hit single Shape Of You rumbles on.
The 30-year-old singer is embroiled in a legal war with rival musicians Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue who argue that his 2017 chart topping song ripped off elements of their 2015 single Oh Why.
Shape Of You was a worldwide hit topping the charts in over 30 countries and booming best-selling song of 2017 in the UK, and the most streamed song in the history of Spotify.
The copyright row surrounding the song is set to incur legal costs of £3 million with the High Court listening to the facts from all parties involved.
The Sun claims Ed has been ordered to: “disclose all recordings and notes relating to the song, including anything from his phone, tablet, laptop or studios.”
With the High Court demanding to know: “if Ed follows anyone named in Chokri’s argument.”
The singer himself has insisted he has never heard the song Oh Why and his lawyers are arguing that the allegations made against him are damaging his reputation.
Ed co-wrote the song with British record producer Steve Mac and Snow Patrol musician Johnny McDaid.
Ed and his co-writers launched legal proceedings in May 2018 to ask the High Court to declare that they had not infringed the copyright held by Mr Chokri and Mr O’Donoghue.
While the rival song-writers then launched their own legal campaign in July 2018 to claim for: “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement,” the Irish News reports.
Shape of You has been embroiled in controversy since it was first released back in January 2017.
In March that year, Ed added further songwriters to the credits of the song after fans noted similarities between his track and the 1999 smash hi No Scrubs by TLC.
Kandi Burruss and Tameka Cottle - who wrote the iconic TLC track – and the song's producer Kevin Briggs were added on American copyright website ASCAP.
Kandi, 45 – who has since found fame as a cast member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta since her songwriting.days – thanked Ed for adding her to the credits at the time.
She wrote on Instagram : "Thank you for allowing @majorgirl & I to share in the success of #ShapeOfYou! #1 for 7 weeks!"
While the musician himself was booed at the 2018 Grammy Awards when Shape Of You was announced as the winner of Best Pop Solo Performance – while in 2017, a man was jailed for playing the song on repeat as part of a campaign of hate.
In the past, Ed has faced disputes about other songs that he wrote – with X factor winner Matt Cardle receiving an out of court settlement after it was claimed Ed had made a “note-for-note” copy of his song Amazing when he released a single called Photograph.
While the estate and heirs of late music producer Ed Townsend have also clashed with Ed Sheehan over his song Thinking Out Loud which they claimed took elements of the 1973 Marvin Gaye classic Let’s Get It On.
