The British artist appeared in court on Friday where he is being sued by two songwriters for having left inspired by their song oh why.
Dressed in a dark suit and tie, Ed Sheeran appeared in person at the High Court in London on the first day of the trial scheduled to last three weeks. The artist is accused by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue of being partly inspired by their song oh why for the melody of his planetary tube Shape Of Youthe best-selling title in the world in 2017. The two songs were broadcast on Friday March 5 in the courtroom presided over by judge Antony Zacaroli.
almost identical
For the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Andrew Sutcliffe, “the similarity” between certain passages “is striking”, they are “almost identical”. “Mr. Sheeran is undoubtedly very talented, he is a genius. But it is also a magpie”he added in reference to the bird which is sometimes accused of being a thief. “He borrows ideas and throws them into his songs, sometimes he acknowledges it, sometimes he doesn’t”, he continued. That “depends on who you are and if he thinks he can do it with impunity”.
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The lawyer pointed out that his clients were “very talented songwriters, who deserve the same respect as any other artist and recognition when it is due”. Ed Sheeran and his co-authors, Steven McCutcheon and John McDaid denied these accusations. They had applied in May 2018 to the High Court for it to recognize that there had been no copyright infringement. Two months later, in July, Chokri and O’Donoghue in turn began legal proceedings against them.
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The payment of royalties linked to Shape Of You, estimated at 20 million pounds sterling (24 million euros) according to the newspaper The Telegraph , has been suspended by the collective management organization PRS. In 2017, Ed Sheeran was also the artist who sold the most albums in the world, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), with his third album divide which includes the single Shape Of You.