Ed Sheeran faces a wait to learn the outcome of a High Court dispute over the copyright of his 2017 hit Shape of You.
A trial in London focused around allegations that the song ripped off another artist’s track concluded on Tuesday.
Mr Justice Zacaroli, who presided over the 11-day hearing that Mr Sheeran attended throughout, said he would “take some time to consider my judgment” which he would deliver “as soon as I can”.
Mr Sheeran and his co-authors, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, deny that Shape Of You copies part of 2015 song Oh Why by Sami Chokri.
Mr Chokri, a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch, and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue, claim that an “Oh I” hook in Shape Of You is “strikingly similar” to an “Oh Why” refrain in their own track.
On Tuesday, the final day of the trial, the court heard closing arguments from Andrew Sutcliffe QC, representing the Oh Why co-writers.
Mr Sutcliffe claimed there was an “indisputable similarity between the works” and suggested the chances of two songs that “correlate” appearing within months of each other was “minutely small”.
Ian Mill QC, for the Shape of You co-writers, previously said they were clear that they had “no preconceived ideas” when going into Rokstone Studios on October 12 2016 where Shape of You was written.
But Mr Sutcliffe claimed in court that the evidence “strongly points” to Mr Sheeran having arrived at Rokstone Studios that day with Oh Why “consciously or unconsciously in his head”.
In written arguments, the barrister alleged that Mr Sheeran’s own oral evidence to the trial was “highly unsatisfactory”.
If Mr Sheeran has been untruthful about this, the court is entitled to ask why. The obvious inference is that Mr Sheeran has denied knowing Mr Chokri in an attempt to distance himself from Mr Chokri’s music
“There were occasions where he was not telling the truth. It was riddled with inconsistencies, evasiveness, and confusion,” Mr Sutcliffe said.
“His answers were short, often monosyllabic, for the difficult questions, and more expansive where he felt that he was on safer ground.”
Mr Sutcliffe suggested the chances that Mr Sheeran was not aware of Mr Chokri in 2016 were “vanishingly small”, because they appeared on YouTube channel SBTV at about the same time, they shared friends and Mr Chokri had tweeted him and allegedly met him.
“If Mr Sheeran has been untruthful about this, the court is entitled to ask why. The obvious inference is that Mr Sheeran has denied knowing Mr Chokri in an attempt to distance himself from Mr Chokri’s music.”
Mr Sutcliffe claimed Mr Sheeran previously said he did not have “a pre-meditated thought process” for songwriting but later accepted he continues to store up lyrics and ideas.
The barrister alleged that Shape of You was written at such “extraordinary speed” that it was “consistent with the existence of preconceived ideas”.
Mr Sutcliffe also claimed “material documents” linked to the writing of Shape of You “have been lost or deleted, with no adequate explanation”.
He added that Mr Sheeran had allegedly given “unsatisfactory” evidence, including over “denying that he interpolates, references or borrows music from others”.
Mr Mill said Mr Sheeran stores up his own lyrical ideas in his head, while the star has also said he does not remember meeting Mr Chokri nor being sent Oh Why.
Mr Sheeran and his co-authors say they have disclosed material to the trial and do not remember hearing Oh Why before the legal fight.
In written arguments, Mr Sutcliffe said Mr Chokri had a “successful and well-publicised renewed profile in the UK scene” when he released music in 2015 and 2016, with “successful” attempts made to bring him to the attention of Mr Sheeran’s “associates”.
He alleged it was likely Mr Sheeran discovered Mr Chokri’s music himself around this time, as he was actively following the UK scene – something Mr Sheeran has denied.
It was also “likely” Mr Sheeran “consciously copied” Oh Why, Mr Sutcliffe claimed, highlighting alleged similarities in the use of notes, rhythm, instrumentation and vowel sounds between it and Shape of You.
He said that Oh Why hook was “extremely memorable” and an “earworm” and that if Mr Sheeran did not consciously copy it, a likely explanation was that it became “part of the echo chamber of references, songs and ideas that [he] holds in his mind, which re-surfaced in October 2016 without him realising it”.
Mr Sheeran and his co-authors launched legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed Mr Chokri and Mr O’Donoghue’s copyright.
In July 2018, Mr Chokri and Mr O’Donoghue issued their own claim for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement”.
