Ed Sheeran Wins Shape of You Copyright Case, Says Baseless Lawsuits Are Damaging Songwriting Industry

British singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran earlier this week won a UK High Court copyright lawsuit over his 2017 hit song 'Shape of You'. The singer after his win said that baseless copyright claims were damaging the music industry.

British performer, Sami Chokri has accused Sheeran of stealing the melody from his 2015 song 'Oh Why'. Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch, claimed that the 'Oh, I' melodic hook in Sheeran's Shape of You was "strikingly similar" to the 'Oh, why' portion of his own song.

On Wednesday (April 6), a judge ruled in Sheeran's favour saying he had not plagiarized the work. High Court Judge Antony Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied a phrase from Oh, Why when writing his smash hit.

Reacting to the win in his case, Ed took to his Twitter account. In a video, he said, "Whilst we're obviously happy with the result I feel like claims like this are way too common now and it's become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking them to court, even if there's no basis for the claim. It's really damaging to the songwriting industry."

Take a look at the tweet,

During the trial, Sheeran also denied allegations that he "borrows" ideas from unknown songwriters without acknowledgement and said that he has always been fair in crediting people who contribute to his albums.

Notably, 'Shape of You' was the UK's best-selling song of 2017 and is Spotify's most-streamed song ever. The singer has previously won four Grammy awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album for the 2017 release of ÷ (Divide) and Song of the Year for 'Thinking Out Loud', of the album x.