British singer Ed Sheeran appeared at London’s High Court on Friday (March 4) as a copyright trial opened over allegations that his hit track, Shape Of You, lifted musical phrases from one other observe.
Shape Of You, launched 2017, was an enormous hit for Sheeran and it stays essentially the most streamed-song ever on Spotify, with greater than three billion streams.
It received the 31-year-old singer-songwriter a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance. He has a writing credit score on the observe together with a number of others.
But two different songwriters, Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, alleged that Sheeran’s track has musical similarities to 1 they wrote referred to as Oh Why.
Sheeran, who turned up on the listening to in a darkish go well with and tie, denied the allegation.
In 2018, Sheeran and the track’s different credited writers launched authorized motion in opposition to Chokri and McDaid, prompting the pair to launch their very own declare for “copyright infringements, damages and an account of the revenue in relation to the alleged infringement”.
The authorized battle is anticipated to final three weeks, with decide Antony Zacaroli listening to each songs in court docket on Friday.
Lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe, representing the aggrieved songwriters, informed the decide that “the similarity between the 2 hooks is putting” and the songs “sound virtually equivalent”.
“This, in fact, doesn’t by itself show that copying has taken place, nevertheless it’s a significant place to begin,” he added.
Sutcliffe steered that Sheeran is a “magpie” who “borrows concepts” and can typically not acknowledge them.
Sheeran’s attorneys have informed the High Court that he and his co-writers don’t have any reminiscence of getting heard the track Oh Why on the time.
The PRS for Music, which pays out royalties for the usage of music, has quickly halted royalty funds. – AFP
