Antony Zacaroli: Last News

Ed Sheeran and his ‘Shape Of You’ co-writers have been awarded more than £900,000 in legal costs following their win in the headline-grabbing song-theft case in the London high court in relation to that work.Sheeran and his collaborators Johnny McDaid and Steven McCutcheon were accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’, by singer Sami Chokri, when they wrote ‘Shape Of You’ in autumn 2016. The allegations were mainly based on a musical segment shared by the two songs, in which Chokri’s lyrics went “oh why, oh why, oh why, oh”, while Sheeran sang “oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I”.Chokri reckoned that Sheeran had got a copy of his track via mutual contacts in the music industry, while his legal team argued that the similarities between the two songs were so striking that it was “highly improbable” they’d been independently created.But the Sheeran side countered that there was no firm evidence at all that the star had had access to Chokri’s work, while – they insisted – the musical segment shared by the two songs was commonplace in pop music,In the end the judge hearing the case, Antony Zacaroli, ruled very much in Sheeran’s favour.

K.J. Yossman Ed Sheeran has scored a second victory in his recent copyright trial after a British judge awarded the singer over $1.1 million in costs.The sum represents approximately 90% of Sheeran’s legal bill.Explaining his decision to award Sheeran such substantial costs, Judge Antony Zacaroli wrote in his judgment: “The starting point is to identify the winners and losers in the action because the general rule is that the unsuccessful party pays the costs of the successful party… There is no dispute as to this: [Sheeran] undoubtedly won and won on every substantial point.”In April, Judge Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had not plagiarised a 2015 song titled “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri in his hit “Shape of You.” Sheeran co-wrote “Shape of You” alongside Snow Patrol singer Johnny McDaid and producer Steve Mac (during the trial he used his legal name of Steven McCutcheon), who were co-claimants in the action.Chokri’s legal team had argued that, through a publicity campaign and mutual friends including SBTV founder Jamal Edwards (who unexpectedly died shortly before the trial), Sheeran had had the opportunity to listen to – and plagiarize – Chokri’s track.

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.

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015’s “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.Sheeran took to Twitter on Wednesday and expressed relief at his legal victory in Britain, though he decried what he called a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.“Whilst 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 is no basis for the claim,” Sheerhan said in a video posted on Twitter.

Ed Sheeran has emerged successful from a copyright battle that reached the U.K. High Court.

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran has won a U.K. copyright battle over the 2017 hit “Shape of You.”

Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac and Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid have won their High Court copyright battle over 2017 Number 1 single Shape of You.

The ‘Shape Of You’ song-theft court case has now concluded with judge Antony Zacaroli busy considering whether or not Ed Sheeran is indeed a musical magpie and squirrel, who likes lifting elements of other people’s songs when making his music. Or, at least, who lifted a key line from the 2015 track ‘Oh Why’ when he wrote his 2017 hit ‘Shape Of You’.Sami Chokri reckons that Sheeran got a copy of his track ‘Oh Why’ through mutual friends or industry connections and then, when the star and his songwriting pals got together in late 2016 to write ‘Shape Of You’, he either consciously or subconsciously utilised a key element of the earlier song within his hit.But Sheeran and his collaborators deny having ever heard ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’.