Ed Sheeran Shape of You verdict: Singer describes ‘cost on mental health’ after winning copyright trial

The lawyer representing Ed Sheeran in a plagiarism row over his hit song “Shape of You” previously said this case “should never have gone to trial”.

The British singer-songwriter will today learn the outcome of a High Court dispute over the copyright of his 2017 single.

Sheeran and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon (also known as Steve Mac), deny that “Shape Of You” copies part of Sami Chokri’s 2015 track “Oh Why”.

“Shape of You” remains the most-streamed song of all time on Spotify, with more than three billion plays. It was the biggest-selling song of 2017.

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How likely is it that two songs sound the same by chance? There are two ways to answer that question, actually.

Kit Yates comments: “How likely is it that these two songs sound the same by chance? If it is incredibly unlikely for Sheeran to have come up with a hook sounding similar to Chokri’s purely by chance then perhaps the alternative explanation – that he plagiarised the piece – seems more plausible.

“This kind of reasoning routinely comes up in the courtroom. But there is another way of looking at this issue.

“We should not be thinking about whether there are any songs out there that match Chokri’s specific lyrics. The probability of happening is naturally quite low. Instead, we should be thinking about the probability of any two songs out there matching each other. The probability of that is much higher. And that’s a crucial point.”

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Sheeran appeared in court last month during the trial over his hit song “Shape of You”, for which he is accused of copying parts of Sami Chokri’s track, “Oh Why”.

Chokri and his songwriting partner, Ross O’Donoghue, claim that Sheeran’s song – co-written with Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac – took “particular lines and phrases” from their own, and allege that his refrain of the words “Oh I” is “strikingly similar” to their delivery of the words “Oh why”.

Judge Antony Zacaroli listened to both songs in court, with Chokri and O’Donoghue’s lawyer, Andrew Sutcliffe, telling him they “sound almost identical”.

Read more on the two songs here:

JUST IN: Ed Sheeran has WON the High Court battle over whether his 2017 hit “Shape of You” copied another artist’s song, with the judge deciding he did not* copy Sami Chokri’s song “Oh Why”.

As we just learned, a High Court judge has cleared Ed Sheeran of plagiarising Sami Chokri’s 2015 track “Oh Why” for his hit single, 2017’s “Shape of You”.

The verdict was delivered just over a week after an 11-day trial, in which music experts offered their views on perceived similarities between the two songs.

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“The OW Hook (in Oh Why) is the central part of the song and reflects the song’s slow, brooding and questioning mood,” Justice Zacaroli said in his ruling.

“Listening to the sounds as a whole ... the two phrases play very different roles in their respective songs.

“Without diminishing its importance, the OI Phrase (in ‘Shape of You’) plays a very different role – something catchy to fill the bar before each repeated phrase, ‘I’m in love with your body’.

“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.

“As to the combination of elements upon which the defendants rely, even if Mr Sheeran had gone looking for inspiration, then ‘Oh Why’ is far from an obvious source, given the stark contrast between the dark mood created by the OW Hook in ‘Oh Why’ and the upbeat, dance feel that Mr Sheeran was looking to create with ‘Shape.’”

Additional reporting by Press Association

In an official statement issued on behalf of Sheeran, McDaid and McCutcheon, the trio describe the “cost on our mental health” and the “immense” stress the trial has caused them.

Read the full statement below:

“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 lawsuits, 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.

At the same time, we believe that there should be due process for legitimate and warranted copyright protection. However, that is not the same as having a culture where unwarranted claims are easily brought. This is not constructive or conducive to a culture of creativity.

We are grateful that Mr. Justice Zacaroli has delivered a clear and considered judgment which supports the position we have argued from the outset. ‘Shape of You’ is original. We did not copy the Defendants’ song.

We respect the music of those who’ve come before us and have inspired us along the way, whoever they are. We have always sought to clear or to acknowledge our influences and collaborators. It doesn’t matter how successful something appears to be, we still respect it.

It is so painful to hear someone publicly, and aggressively, challenge your integrity.

It is so painful to have to defend yourself against accusations that you have done something that you haven’t done and would never do.

We are very grateful for all the messages of love, hope and support we received throughout the course of this case from songwriters everywhere. Thank you also to our publishers, who stood shoulder to shoulder with us at every step of the way. We are privileged to do what we do, and we know that. We want to live in a world where we are free to do what we do, openly and honourably.

While this has been one of the most difficult things we have ever been through in our professional lives, we will continue to stand up against baseless claims, and protect our rights and the integrity of our musical creativity, so we that can continue to make music, always.

Our message to songwriters everywhere is: Please support each other. Be kind to one another. Let’s continue to cultivate a spirit of community and creativity.”

In a further statement issued as a video message, Sheeran said believes plagiarism cases such as this are “way too common now”, describing “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 for the songwriting industry,” he said.

“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 there’s only 12 notes that are available. I don’t want to take anything away from the pain and hurt suffered from both sides of this case, but I just want to say I’m not an entity. I’m not a corporation, I’m a human being, I’m a father, I’m a husband, I’m a son.

“Lawsuits, they’re not a pleasant experience. I hope with this ruling, it means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided. This really does have to end. Me, Johnny and Steve are very grateful for all the support sent to us by fellow songwriters over the last few weeks. Hopefully we can all get back to writing songs, rather than having to prove that we can write them.”

Simon Goodbody and Andrew Forbes, lawyers at Bray and Krais, who represented Ed Sheeran, said in a statement: “The judgment is an emphatic vindication of the creative genius of Ed, Johnny and Steve – as they have always maintained, they created Shape Of You together, without copying from anyone else.”

High Court judge Justice Zacaroli dismissed the accusation that Ed Sheeran is a “magpie” who habitually copies and conceals the work of other songwriters, as he delivered a verdict in favour of the singer-songwriter in the copyright trial over his hit single “Shape of You”.

He said that Sheeran and his co-writers Steven McCutcheon and John McDaid were “unaware” the dispute had frozen £2.2 million in royalties from the song and had said they were only in court to “clear their names”.

However, he said that is a “substantial amount of money” and “provides a commercial justification for making a declaration”.

“In addition, the desire of the songwriters to clear their names is also a reason to grant this declaratory relief,” he said.

“Each is someone highly successful in the industry, whose reputation would be at risk from accusations of deliberate copying.

“It was not until after they had been cross-examined that it was made clear that Mr McCutcheon and Mr McDaid were not accused of deliberate copying.”

He added: “As for Mr Sheeran, the justification for declaratory relief was only increased by the fact that although the case only relates to Shape (Of You), it was pursued against him on a basis - which I reject - that he is a 'magpie' who habitually deliberately copies and conceals the work of other songwriters.”