Ed Sheeran has won the High Court battle over his hit 2017 single “Shape of You”.
The British singer-songwriter and his co-writers, Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol, and producer Steven McCutcheon (Steve Mac), had denied copying parts of Sami Chokri’s 2015 track, “Oh Why”, for the song from Sheeran’s chart-topping third album, Divide.
Chokri – who performs under the name Sami Switch – and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue, alleged that the “Oh I” hook in “Shape Of You” is “strikingly similar” to the “Oh Why” refrain in their own track.
Ian Mill QC, representing Sheeran, McDaid and McCutcheon, said during the 11-day trial that the trio were clear that they had “no preconceived ideas” when going into Rokstone Studios, where “Shape of You” was written, on 12 October 2016.
In a ruling on Wednesday 6 April, Justice Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from “Oh Why” when writing “Shape of You”.
“There was a lot of talk throughout this case about cost. But there is more than just a financial cost,” Sheeran said in a joint statement released with McDaid and McCutcheon, following the ruling.
“There is a cost on creativity. When we are tangled up in law suits, we are not making music or playing shows.”
The statement continued: “There is a cost on our mental health. The stress this causes on all sides is immense. It affects so many aspects of our everyday lives and the lives of our families and friends. We are not corporations. We are not entities. We are human beings. We are songwriters. We do not want to diminish the hurt and pain anyone has suffered through this, and at the same time, we feel it is important to acknowledge that we too have had our own hurts and life struggles throughout the course of this process.”
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