Ed Sheeran wins copyright case over 'Shape Of You' after 4 years, slams 'baseless' claims

London [UK], April 7 : Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran finally won the copyright battle in a UK court over his magnanimous 2017 chartbuster 'Shape of You'.
The four-year legal battle over plagiarism charges finally came to an end on Wednesday after the judge ruled that the singer had not plagiarized the song from a lesser-known track.
According to Billboard, the judge ruled that Sheeran's mega-hit, which spent 12 weeks on top of the Hot 100, did not infringe the 2015 'Oh Why' released by artist Sami Chokri and music producer Ross O'Donoghue.
Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled there was no evidence that Sheeran had intentionally or subconsciously copied from 'Oh Why' when he wrote his song.
He said that "while there are similarities" between the two songs, "there are also significant differences".
He further added that "the two phrases at the heart of the dispute play very different roles in their respective songs, with the 'Oh Why' hook reflecting the song's slow, brooding and questioning mood, while Sheeran's 'Oh I' line acts as something catchy to fill the bar."
An elated Sheeran took to social media to announce his lawsuit win over a video, bashing the 'baseless claims' over plagiarism and the harm they're doing to the industry.
"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," Sheeran said in the video.
"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," he added.
He went on to say, "I just want to say: I'm not an entity, I'm not a corporation, I'm a human being and a father and a husband and a son."
"Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience and I hope that this ruling means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided," Sheeran said.
His song 'Shape of You', having grabbed 2.2 billion on-demand streams to date in the US, topped numerous charts worldwide including Australia, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Billboard Hot 100, where it held the No. 1 spot for 12 weeks and also spent a total of 59 weeks on the U.S. chart.