{"id":21336,"date":"2022-03-07T09:48:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T14:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=21336"},"modified":"2022-03-07T09:48:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T14:48:40","slug":"ed-sheeran-denies-shape-of-you-copyright-claim-at-high-court-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/03\/07\/ed-sheeran-denies-shape-of-you-copyright-claim-at-high-court-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran denies Shape of You copyright claim at High Court trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\"><b class=\"ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Ed Sheeran has told the High Court he does not &#8220;borrow&#8221; ideas from unknown songwriters without credit.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The singer-songwriter has been accused by two other songwriters of copying parts of his 2017 hit Shape Of You.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Sami Chokri and Ross O&#8217;Donoghue&#8217;s barrister suggested Sheeran treated lesser-known songwriters differently from famous ones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Sheeran denied this, telling the court he had cleared parts of songs with &#8220;lots&#8221; of unknown artists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Shape of You was number one for 14 weeks in the UK in 2017, becoming the best-selling song of the year around the world.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ed Sheeran - Shape of You (Official Music Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JGwWNGJdvx8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Chokri and O&#8217;Donoghue claim the song&#8217;s &#8220;Oh I&#8221; hook is &#8220;strikingly similar&#8221; to part of their track Oh Why, which was released under the name Sami Switch in 2015.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sami Switch - Oh Why (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a3VDY6ttikM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">On Friday, their barrister Andrew Sutcliffe QC claimed Sheeran &#8220;borrows ideas and throws them into his songs, sometimes he will acknowledge it but sometimes he won&#8217;t&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Giving evidence on Monday, the singer gave several examples of times he had cleared parts of songs with little-known artists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">&#8220;If Mr Sutcliffe would have done his research&#8221;, he added, he would have known he had cleared parts of songs with &#8220;lots&#8221; of unknown composers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Sheeran created Shape of You with co-writers Steve Mac &#8211; real name Steven McCutcheon &#8211; and Snow Patrol&#8217;s Johnny McDaid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">After its release, <a class=\"ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/newsbeat-39336424\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he added the team behind TLC&#8217;s 1999 single No Scrubs<\/a>\u00a0to the song&#8217;s writing credits after some commentators pointed out similarities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">On Monday, Mr Sutcliffe told the star: &#8220;The evidence is overwhelming that at the time of writing Shape of You, your songwriting process involved collecting ideas.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Sheeran replied: &#8220;You say it&#8217;s overwhelming, I don&#8217;t agree with that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The singer also said he hadn&#8217;t been being aware of Chokri, a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch, before the song was written.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Mr Sutcliffe said Sheeran and Chokri had appeared in videos on late music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards&#8217; YouTube channel SBTV around the same time, and that Edwards had tweeted about Sami Switch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Sheeran responded that Edwards &#8220;championed lots and lots of artists&#8221; and &#8220;it wasn&#8217;t like I watched every single video he uploaded&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He added: &#8220;I followed him on Twitter, it doesn&#8217;t mean I read everything he wrote.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The musician told the court he quit social media in 2015, adding that for &#8220;the whole of 2016&#8221; he was &#8220;off&#8221; social media and was using a &#8220;flip phone from Tesco&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">In May 2018, Sheeran and his co-writers issued proceedings asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed Chokri and O&#8217;Donoghue&#8217;s copyright.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The pair then issued a counter claim for copyright infringement. The trial is expected to continue for about three weeks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18mjolk-ComponentWrapper e1xue1i810\" data-component=\"image-block\">\n<figure class=\"ssrcss-wpgbih-StyledFigure e34k3c23\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-ab5fd8-StyledFigureContainer e34k3c21\"><span class=\"ssrcss-13t93ir-Placeholder e16icw910\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ssrcss-1drmwog-Image ee0ct7c0\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1536\/cpsprodpb\/145BF\/production\/_122219338_marksavage_21_tr-nc.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/145BF\/production\/_122219338_marksavage_21_tr-nc.png 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/145BF\/production\/_122219338_marksavage_21_tr-nc.png 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/145BF\/production\/_122219338_marksavage_21_tr-nc.png 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/145BF\/production\/_122219338_marksavage_21_tr-nc.png 624w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/800\/cpsprodpb\/145BF\/production\/_122219338_marksavage_21_tr-nc.png 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/976\/cpsprodpb\/145BF\/production\/_122219338_marksavage_21_tr-nc.png 976w\" alt=\"Analysis box by Mark Savage, music correspondent\" width=\"1536\" height=\"306.11957796014065\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Dressed in a sharp black suit, Ed Sheeran is firm, determined and just a little bit irritated on the stand; as the prosecution deconstruct his songwriting process, looking for hints that he might take inspiration from outside sources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He denies the prosecution&#8217;s claim that he is a &#8220;magpie&#8221; who lifts other people&#8217;s work without giving credit; pointing out that he has often shared credit with lesser known artists, including Shivers and Visiting Hours and a song that sampled an &#8220;unknown composer&#8217;s&#8221; work from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">&#8220;All those examples are not famous artists that we&#8217;ve cleared songs with and that&#8217;s what I have to say on that,&#8221; he tells the court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Sheeran testifies that he mostly works in collaboration with other writers, and that it&#8217;s often hard to identify who has written each individual part of a song once it&#8217;s finished.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Referencing his Shape Of You co-writer Johnny McDaid, he says: &#8220;My and Johnny&#8217;s writing partnership is very much like a game of tennis. He&#8217;ll say something and I&#8217;ll say something back. We&#8217;re quite quick when we go back and forth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Asked repeatedly whether he is responsible for chorus to his 2015 song Photograph, Sheeran replies tersely: &#8220;I honestly couldn&#8217;t tell you. I don&#8217;t know. We wrote the song together.&#8221; It&#8217;s a phrase he will return to several times throughout the morning&#8217;s questioning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Photograph is relevant because it was the case of a separate copyright claim from Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, who wrote Matt Cardle&#8217;s 2011 single Amazing. The duo were eventually given a share of the song&#8217;s royalties and a \u00a34m lump sum in an out-of-court settlement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Sheeran says he settled the claim because it was a &#8220;nuisance&#8221; and &#8220;more trouble than it was worth&#8221;. Asked why he would pay out such a &#8220;substantial&#8221; sum instead of taking the case to court, he says he did so on the advice of his lawyers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Later, Sheeran is asked about his role as a talent-spotter, as the head of his own label Gingerbread Man Records. The insinuation is that he saw Sami Chokri&#8217;s song Oh Why on YouTube, then copied it for Shape Of You. He denies being aware of the song, saying he&#8217;d just signed Jamie Lawson to the label and &#8220;wasn&#8217;t looking for anyone else&#8221; to work with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The court has just taken a break for lunch. Sheeran is expected to testify into the evening.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/entertainment-arts-60648263\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">Ed Sheeran has told the High Court he does not &#8220;borrow&#8221; ideas from unknown songwriters without credit. The singer-songwriter has been accused by two other songwriters of copying parts of his 2017 hit Shape Of <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/03\/07\/ed-sheeran-denies-shape-of-you-copyright-claim-at-high-court-trial\/\" title=\"Ed Sheeran denies Shape of You copyright claim at High Court trial\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,4],"tags":[1778,4546,592],"class_list":{"0":"post-21336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-uk","10":"tag-copyright","11":"tag-ed-sheeran","12":"tag-high-court","13":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21336"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21340,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21336\/revisions\/21340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}