The plagiarism trial involving Ed Sheeran’s hit song “Shape of You” has come to an end, with a High Court judge ruling in the singer-songwriter’s favour.
Sheeran appeared in court last month after being accused by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue of plagiarising their 2015 track, “Oh Why”.
It was announced Wednesday (6 April) that Sheeran had won the case.
Chokri and O’Donoghue claimed that Sheeran’s song, written by Sheeran, Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steven “Mac” McCutcheon, took “particular lines and phrases” from their own, claiming that his refrain of the words “Oh I” was “strikingly similar” to their delivery of the words “Oh why”.
Judge Antony Zacaroli listened to both songs in court, with Chokri and O’Donoghue’s lawyer, Andrew Sutcliffe, telling him they “sound almost identical”.
However, Sheeran argued this was not the case, and the judge, Justice Zacaroli, ruled that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from the song.
“Oh Why”, performed by Chokri under the name Sami Switch, is available on YouTube here.
It was Sheeran and his team who first launched legal proceedings over the song in 2018, requesting the High Court declare they had not infringed Chokri and O’Donoghue’s copyright.
However, Chorki and O’Donoghue retaliated by issuing their own claim of “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in retaliation to the alleged infringement”, which was the basis of the now-completed trial.
Sheeran’s lawyers previously told the court that the singer and the song’s co-writers have no memory of ever hearing the song “Oh Why”.
Following the judge’s verdict, Sheeran released a video on social media talking about the case, saying: “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.”
Read his full statement here.
