Relief for the pop star Ed Sheeran, after several weeks of suspense. “In his decision of Wednesday, April 6, Judge Antony Zacaroli concludes that Ed Sheeran did not copy ‘neither deliberately nor unknowingly’ passage of the song Oh Why by composing Shape of You”, reports The Independent.
The 2017 hit was in the spotlight as a plagiarism complaint was filed by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, the British musicians behind Oh Why.
After eleven days of trial and two weeks of waiting, the High Court in London (not to be confused with the British Supreme Court) has delivered its verdict.
Musicology Considerations
In view of the judge’s explanations, quoted by the London daily, it appears that the latter has carefully considered considerations of musicology. If the infringement of copyright is not established, he believes, it is in particular because, “listening to sounds as a whole”, the relevant passage plays “a very different role” in both songs. He adds that the offending motif is too common for Sheeran to be accused of drawing inspiration specifically from Chokri and O’Donoghue’s piece, which otherwise has a radically different musical atmosphere.
Ed Sheeran, 31, spoke in a statement shortly after the verdict, on behalf of himself and his team of songwriters, further indicates The Independent. He said that the price of such procedures was not only financial. “There is a cost on creativity. When we’re entangled in lawsuits, we don’t have time to compose or perform. There is a mental health cost. The stress on all parties is immense.”
The artist nevertheless welcomes a court decision which comes in a context where, he says, more and more musicians are fighting in copyright cases. He adds in a video posted on Instagram:
“There are only so many notes, and very few chords, used in pop. Coincidences like this are to be expected, when 60,000 songs are added to Spotify every day. That’s 22 million songs per year, for twelve available notes.