Ed Sheeran discusses impact of ‘Shape Of You litigation after winning song-theft battle

completemusicupdate.com:

Ed Sheeran and his ‘Shape Of You’ collaborators yesterday issued a statement about the impact the legal battle over that song has had on their creativity and mental health after successfully defeating the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against them by grime artist Sami Chokri.Chokri claimed that ‘Shape Of You’ lifted a key element from his earlier song ‘Oh Why’, and that Sheeran’s hit therefore infringed the copyright in his work.

Proving that required Chokri to demonstrate that Sheeran had heard ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’ in autumn 2016, and that he had consciously or subconsciously borrowed that key element of the earlier track for his song.The Chokri side employed two main tactics in trying to prove that Sheeran had indeed been exposed to ‘Oh Why’ prior to autumn 2016.

First, Chokri had actively tried to get a copy of his track to the star through friends and industry contacts they had in common.

And second, the element that ‘Oh Why’ and ‘Shape Of You’ share is so similar, the chances they were independently created were super low, it was argued.However, the Sheeran side insisted he had never received a copy of ‘Oh Why’ – stressing that the Chokri team had no tangible evidence a copy of the track had reached Sheeran, who pretty much went off grid before starting work on his ‘÷’ album.