Ed Sheeran has won the lawsuit set against him by musician Sami Switch who claimed the singer-songwriter copyrighted one of his songs.
Sami Switch alleged that Ed Sheeran’s 2017 hit “Shape of You” was a copyright of his 2015 song “Oh Why”. Switch stated “particular lines and phrases” were used by Sheeran however Justice Antony Zacaroli declared in the High Court in London that this was not the case.
“While there are similarities between [the] OW [Oh Why] hook and the OI [OH I] phrase, there are also significant differences,” he said.
“I am satisfied that Mr Sheeran did not subconsciously copy ‘Oh Why’ in creating ‘Shape’”.
Justice Zacaroli went onto to say that the similar phrases in both songs “play very different roles”. He described the “Oh Why” hook as a “slow, brooding and questioning mood” while “Oh I” in “Shape of You” is “something catchy to fill the bar”.
Although Switch has yet to officially comment on the verdict, he recently posted a cryptic message on Instagram saying that “this is the beginning not the end”. Ed Sheeran has taken to his social media platforms to thank people for all their support.
In the video he mentioned he was finally able to talk about the situation and had much to say, most importantly that copyright lawsuits over music are becoming too familiar.
“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,” he said.
“Even if there’s no base for the claim.
“It’s really damaging to the song writing industry.
“There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music [so] coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify.”
A video of the comparison can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dylhC0ikNA
