ED Sheeran has denied “borrowing” ideas from unknown songwriters before a judge amid a High Court copyright trial over his hit song Shape Of You.
The global superstar appeared in court to begin giving live evidence on Monday as part of his legal battle with two songwriters, Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, who allege Sheeran’s 2017 song rips off parts of their track Oh Why – something he denies.
What is Ed Sheeran accused of?
On Friday, at the start of what is expected to be a three-week trial, Andrew Sutcliffe QC, for Chokri and O’Donoghue, claimed Sheeran “borrows ideas and throws them into his songs, sometimes he will acknowledge it but sometimes he won’t”.
The barrister also alleged that Sheeran’s acknowledgement depended on how famous the other artist was, adding that Chokri and O’Donoghue “are not Shaggy, Coldplay, Rihanna or Jay-Z, if they were they would have been treated in a very different way”.
Chokri and O’Donoghue allege that Shape Of You infringes “particular lines and phrases” of their song Oh Why, released in 2015.
They argue that a central “Oh I” hook in Shape Of You is “strikingly similar” to an “Oh Why” refrain in their own composition.
You can listen to the song here:
What Ed Sheeran said in court
At the start of his evidence on Monday, Ian Mill QC, representing Sheeran, asked: “Do you accept that you behave or have behaved in that way?”
Sheeran said “no”, before adding: “The examples he has been using are obviously famous artists, two of them are people I’ve made songs with.”
He continued that “if Mr Sutcliffe would have done his research”, he would have known there were “lots” of unknown artists he had cleared parts of songs with.
Sheeran appeared in the witness box in a dark suit with a dark tie.
Sheeran also gave several examples of when he had cleared aspects of songs with unknown artists, including sampling a part of a song from the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer from an “unknown composer”.
“All those examples are not famous artists that we’ve cleared songs with and that’s what I have to say on that,” he said.
Sheeran and his co-authors launched legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed Chokri and O’Donoghue’s copyright.
In July 2018, Chokri and O’Donoghue issued their own claim for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement”.
The trial continues.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here