Ed Sheeran’s 2017 hit Shape Of You does not infringe another artist’s copyright, a High Court judge has ruled. At a trial last month, the singer and his Shape Of You co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, faced accusations that they ripped off the 2015 song Oh Why by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue.
In a ruling on Wednesday, Mr Justice Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from Oh Why when writing Shape Of You. The singer-songwriter and his co-authors originally launched legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed Chokri and O’Donoghue’s copyright.
Two months later, Chokri – a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch – and O’Donoghue issued their own claim for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement”. The pair alleged that an “Oh I” hook in Shape Of You is “strikingly similar” to an “Oh Why” refrain in their own track.
