Facing a new lawsuit of copyright infringement for his song “Shape of You,” famed songwriter Ed Sheeran has denied any wrongdoing.
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Sheeran testified recently at London’s High Court that he did not steal from other songs for his mega-hit, which recently surpassed three billion streams on Spotify.
Sheeran was similarly sued in 2016 for his hit “Photograph” and in 2018 for “Thinking Out Loud.”
The lawsuit is one of several copyright infringement claims in the news, including two recent claims against hit artist Dua Lipa.
On Monday (March 7), during the hearing in London’s High Court, the British-born Sheeran dismissed the claim that he stole from songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue for his 2017 “Shape of You.”
The songwriters say that their 2015 song, “Oh Why,” which was released under the moniker Sami Switch, sounds “strikingly similar” to Sheeran’s Oh I hook in “Shape of You,” according to People.
The 31-year-old Sheeran said he cleared parts of songs with “lots” of artists, according to the BBC.
The plaintiff’s lawyer states that Sheeran “borrows ideas and throws them into his songs, sometimes he will acknowledge it but sometimes he won’t.”
Sheeran pointed to numerous credits he has given, like on the songs “Shivers” and “Visiting Hours,” saying, “All those examples are not famous artists that we’ve cleared songs with and that’s what I have to say on that.”
Sheeran wrote “Shape of You” with Steve Mac (aka Steven McCutcheon) and Johnny McDaid. And after the song was released, he added the team behind TLC’s “No Scrubs” to the credits.
In Sheeran’s two previous songwriting lawsuits, the suit over “Photograph” was settled out of court and the one regarding “Thinking Out Loud” is ongoing.
Photo: Dan Martensen / Atlantic Records
