Ed Sheeran wins High Court copyright battle with Sami Switch over Shape Of You

Ed Sheeran has won a High Court battle over whether his 2017 hit Shape of You copied another artist’s song.

At a trial last month, the singer and his Shape Of You co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, faced accusations that they ripped off the 2015 song Oh Why by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue.

In a ruling on Wednesday, Mr Justice Zacaroli concluded Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from Oh Why when writing Shape Of You.

Reacting to the ruling, the Shape of You co-writers said in a joint statement that the case had come at a cost on “creativity” and on their mental health.

Ed Sheeran has won his high court battle

“When we are tangled up in lawsuits, we are not making music or playing shows,” they said, adding: “There is an impact on both us and the wider circle of songwriters everywhere.

“Our hope in having gone through all of this is that it shows that there is a need for a safe space for all songwriters to be creative, and free to express their hearts.”

Sheeran and his co-authors originally launched legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed Chokri and O’Donoghue’s copyright.

Two months later, Chokri – a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch – and O’Donoghue issued their own claim for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement”.

The pair alleged that an “Oh I” hook in Shape Of You is “strikingly similar” to an “Oh Why” refrain in their own track.

But in his judgment, Mr Justice Zacaroli concluded “Mr Sheeran had not heard Oh Why and in any event that he did not deliberately copy the Oh I phrase from the Oh Why hook”.