Summing up beings in Shape Of You song-theft case

Ed Sheeran and his ‘Shape Of You’ collaborators yesterday issued a statement about the impact the legal battle over that song has had on their creativity and mental health after successfully defeating the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against them by grime artist Sami Chokri.Chokri claimed that ‘Shape Of You’ lifted a key element from his earlier song ‘Oh Why’, and that Sheeran’s hit therefore infringed the copyright in his work. Proving that required Chokri to demonstrate that Sheeran had heard ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’ in autumn 2016, and that he had consciously or subconsciously borrowed that key element of the earlier track for his song.The Chokri side employed two main tactics in trying to prove that Sheeran had indeed been exposed to ‘Oh Why’ prior to autumn 2016.

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015’s “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.Sheeran took to Twitter on Wednesday and expressed relief at his legal victory in Britain, though he decried what he called a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a 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,” Sheerhan said in a video posted on Twitter.

Ed Sheeran has emerged successful from a copyright battle that reached the U.K. High Court.

had won the high-profile copyright case brought against him by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, over similarities between Sheeran’s 2017 hit “Shape Of You”, and Chokri’s 2015 release “Oh Why”. Ed Sheeran in a video statement posted to Instagram after the ‘Shape of You’ verdict was deliveredSteady on. A key pillar of Sheeran’s defence was that the passage in question – four ascending pre-hook “oh I”s – was such a common and formulaic echo of the pentatonic scale, so overused and obvious, that it was all but unattributable.

Ed Sheeran has won a copyright battle in UK court over his 2017 hit “Shape of You.”

Ed Sheeran has detailed the stress and ‘cost on [his] mental health’ caused by the Shape Of You copyright battle.  The 31-year-old singer won the High Court case on Wednesday alongside Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, also known as Steve Mac.   Two songwriters, Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, had alleged that Sheeran’s 2017 hit single infringed on ‘particular lines and phrases’ from their track, Oh Why.

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.

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran has won a U.K. copyright battle over the 2017 hit “Shape of You.”

Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac and Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid have won their High Court copyright battle over 2017 Number 1 single Shape of You.

Ed Sheeran has won his High Court copyright battle over his hit song Shape of You.The singer, who recently spoke about being supported by his wife Cherry Seaborn throughout the case, was accused of being a "magpie" who "borrows" ideas from other artists, and he denied copying other songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue and their song Oh Why, which was released in 2015. Chokri and O'Donoghue had claimed the Shape of You chorus, which 31 year old Sheeran sings out “oh I oh I oh I”, was actually stolen from their own chorus “oh why oh why oh why”. Mr Justice Zacaroli concluded Mr Sheeran "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied the phrase in a ruling today (April 6).

Ed Sheeran has won his copyright case at the High Court over claims that he plagiarised hit song ‘Shape Of You’ from two other writers.Sheeran along with two of his co-writers – Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steve McCutcheon – had been accused of plagiarising part of a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri, who performs under the alias Sami Switch.Chokri claimed that Sheeran’s 2017 hit infringed “particular lines and phrases” of his 2015 song. He and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue further alleged that the main “Oh I” hook in ‘Shape Of You’ is “strikingly similar” to the “Oh Why” refrain in their own song.Chokri also claimed that he and Sheeran had “overlapping circles” of artists, writers and producers in common, stating that there had been a “concerted plan” to bring ‘Oh Why’ to Sheeran’s attention, were denied by Sheeran’s party.Sheeran and his co-authors, denied all allegations of copying, claiming that they don’t remember hearing ‘Oh Why’ before the claims were lodged.Now, after an 11 day trial, Justice Zacaroli ruled this morning (April 6) that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from ‘Oh Why’ when writing ‘Shape of You.’Zacaroli did acknowledge there were “similarities between the one-bar phrase” in ‘Shape Of You’ and ‘Oh Why’, but added that “such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement” of copyright.He went on to say there were “differences between the relevant parts” of the songs, which “provide compelling evidence that the ‘Oh I’ phrase” in ‘Shape Of You’ “originated from sources other than ‘Oh Why'”.He said there was only a “speculative foundation” that Sheeran had head Chokri’s song before writing ‘Shape of You’.

LONDON -- Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran has won a U.K. copyright battle over the 2017 hit “Shape of You.’’The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the 2017 song copied part of 2015's “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.Sheeran and his co-writers said they did not remember hearing “Oh Why” before the court case.In a ruling on Wednesday, Judge Antony Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from “Oh Why″ when writing his smash hit.“Shape of You” was the biggest-selling song in the U.K.

Ed Sheeran has won a copyright lawsuit over his hit single “Shape of You.”A U.K. High Court ruled on Wednesday that Sheeran had not plagiarised the 2015 song “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri.The verdict is the culmination of a four-year legal battle between Sheeran and songwriters Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, which included a 11-day trial in London in March.

The ‘Shape Of You’ song-theft court case has now concluded with judge Antony Zacaroli busy considering whether or not Ed Sheeran is indeed a musical magpie and squirrel, who likes lifting elements of other people’s songs when making his music. Or, at least, who lifted a key line from the 2015 track ‘Oh Why’ when he wrote his 2017 hit ‘Shape Of You’.Sami Chokri reckons that Sheeran got a copy of his track ‘Oh Why’ through mutual friends or industry connections and then, when the star and his songwriting pals got together in late 2016 to write ‘Shape Of You’, he either consciously or subconsciously utilised a key element of the earlier song within his hit.But Sheeran and his collaborators deny having ever heard ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’.

Ed Sheeran has found the 'Shape of You' copyright trial to be "deeply traumatising". The 31-year-old pop star has been taken to court by grime artist Sami Chokri who claims that the melody of the smash hit is "strikingly similar" to that of his 2015 song 'Oh Why' and Ed and his team have been badly affected by the accusation and case, according to his lawyer. Ian Mill QC told the High Court: "[The case] has been deeply traumatising [for Ed and his co-writers.

Ed Sheeran and his co-writers in the ‘Shape of You’ copyright trial has said the legal row has been “deeply traumatising” for them.Ian Mill QC described the dispute as “terribly, terribly unfortunate” at a hearing in London yesterday (March 23) and argued that the case “should never have got to trial” [via Metro].The High Court was informed of Mill’s comments as the trial is expected to conclude today (March 22) and Mr Justice Zacaroli’s judgment to follow at a later date.Grime artist Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch, is claiming that Sheeran’s 2017 hit infringes “particular lines and phrases” of his 2015 song ‘Oh Why’.

Ed Sheeran‘s ‘Shape Of You’ is “coincidentally similar” and bears “distinctive differences” to the song the singer is accused of copying.It’s alleged that Sheeran and two of his co-writers, Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac, lifted  “particular lines and phrases” for the 2017 ‘÷’ single from a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Switch (real name Sam Chokri).The latter artist and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue claim that Sheeran took the “oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I” hook from the aforementioned song, which was released in 2015.

The artist who accuses Ed Sheeran of ripping off his track ‘Oh Why’ when writing ‘Shape Of You’ took to the witness stand yesterday as the big song-theft legal battle in the London high court continues.Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue argue that Sheeran likely got hold of a copy of their song ‘Oh Why’ from friends they have in common, and then consciously or subconsciously lifted elements of that track when writing ‘Shape Of You’. But Sheeran and his co-writers on the 2017 hit deny ever having heard ‘Oh Why’ before their songwriting sessions in late 2016, and argue that the elements shared by the two songs are commonplace in pop music.In a written statement and during his testimony in court yesterday, Chokri talked about how he actively tried to get a copy of his 2015 song to Sheeran.He said he was inspired by Sheeran’s success and recognised that if he could get an endorsement from the star that would be “a significant boost”.

Another co-writer of the Ed Sheeran hit ‘Shape Of You’ took to the witness stand in the high court in London yesterday as the song-theft case against Sheeran and his musical collaborators continues. Producer Steve Mac – real name Steven McCutcheon – said the writing of ‘Shape Of You’ was very rapid and very collaborative.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators – including McCutcheon – are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.