British pop star Ed Sheeran won a copyright battle in the U.K. on Wednesday over his 2017 hit “Shape of You.”
The win comes following accusations that Mr. Sheeran and co-writers — Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon — duplicated part of the 2015 song “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, whose stage name is Sami Switch.
High Court Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that Mr. Sheeran did not intentionally copy “Oh Why.”
The attorney for the “Oh Why” co-writers claimed that there was an “indisputable similarity between the works.”
Mr. Sheeran didn’t hesitate to express his disdain for what he calls a “culture” of similar lawsuits aimed at squeezing money from artists looking to avoid an expensive trial.
“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,” Mr. Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”
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
— This article was based in part on wire-service reports.
• Peter Santo can be reached at psanto@washingtontimes.com.
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