Ed Sheeran victorious in UK copyright case.
6 April 2022 - London
Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid and Steve McCutcheon (known as “Steve Mac”) took action in the High Court against two songwriters Sami Chokri (known as “Sami Switch”) and the producer Ross O’Donoghue who claimed they had copied parts of Ed’s gigantic 2017 hit record “Shape of You”.
In the London High Court, Antony Zacaroli J today set out his verdict (following on from the trial in March) stating that Sheeran, McDaid and Mac “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied part of the defendants’ song “Oh Why”, when writing the “Oh I” phrase used in their song “Shape Of You”.
The judge ruled that Sheeran’s mega hit, which spent 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, did not infringe Switch’s 2015 song.
In his decision, Antony Zacaroli J ruled there was no evidence that Sheeran, McDaid and Mac had intentionally or “subconsciously” copied from “Oh Why” when they wrote “Shape of You.” He said that “while there are similarities” between the two songs, “there are also significant differences.” He went on to say that “such similarities are, however, only a starting point for a possible infringement action”.
He also said that “…compelling evidence” had been provided to show that “Shape Of You” “…originated from sources other than “Oh Why”, and that the defendants’ claims that Sheeran, McDaid and Mac had heard the song before writing their own were “…no more” than “…speculative”.
The “Shape of You” writers had launched the High Court copyright action in 2018 seeking a declaration from the Court that there had been no infringement of the defendants’ song. That is what the Court decided.
Ed and his co-writers – Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and hit producer Steve Mac - released a statement following the ruling, in which they said:
“There was a lot of talk throughout this case about cost. But there is more than just a financial cost. There is a cost on creativity. When we are tangled up in law suits, we are not making music or playing shows”.
“There is a cost on our mental health. The stress this causes on all sides is immense. It affects so many aspects of our everyday lives and the lives of our families and friends. We are not corporations. We are not entities. We are human beings. We are songwriters. We do not want to diminish the hurt and pain anyone has suffered through this, and at the same time, we feel it is important to acknowledge that we too have had our own hurts and life struggles throughout the course of this process.”
“There is an impact on both us and the wider circle of songwriters everywhere. Our hope in having gone through all of this, is that it shows that there is a need for a safe space for all songwriters to be creative, and free to express their hearts. That is why we all got into this in the first place. Everyone should be able to freely express themselves in music, in art and do so fearlessly.”
In his decision, Zacaroli J wrote:
“The use of the first four notes of the rising minor pentatonic scale for the melody is so short, simple, commonplace and obvious in the context of the rest of the song that it is not credible that Mr Sheeran sought out inspiration from other songs to come up with it”.
The judge also dismissed the argument from Chokri and O’Donoghue’s lawyers that the fast speed at which Sheeran, McDaid and Mac had written Sheeran’s hit demonstrated that they must have copied it from the earlier song.
Sheeran went on to say (in the video he made to explain the suit):
“While 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’s no base for the claim, it’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 million songs a year and only 12 notes that are available.”
You can see Ed’s statement in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8cXaCtUrT8
In fact, Copyright suits in the High Court are actually quite rare, owing to the massive cost of launching and pursuing them. It’s fair to say that only a rich writer like Sheeran can afford to “clear his name” in this way (“Shape of You” publishing royalties apparently exceed £5m per annum at present). That said, it is also true to say that too many baseless claims of infringement are made in general, often by lawyers seeking to get an out of court settlement by threatening a lawsuit, whilst many do not go as far as the High Court itself.
For further detail, contact: Ian Penman ian.penman@newmedialaw.biz, +44 (0)207 291 1677