Justice Zacaroli: Last News

Ed Sheeran and his co-songwriters have been awarded over £900,000 in legal costs after winning their High Court copyright trial over the hit Shape Of You earlier this year.At a trial in March, the singer and co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, faced accusations that their track ripped off a 2015 song by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue.However, Mr Justice Zacaroli concluded Mr Sheeran ‘neither deliberately nor subconsciously’ copied a phrase in the song.Mr Sheeran, his co-authors and their music companies originally launched legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed Mr Chokri and Mr O’Donoghue’s copyright.Two months later, Mr Chokri – a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch – and Mr O’Donoghue issued their own claim for ‘copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement’. The pair had 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 previous 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.’He dismissed the counterclaim and granted a declaration to Mr Sheeran and his fellow songwriters that they had not infringed the copyright in Oh Why.Following the ruling, lawyers for Mr Chokri and Mr O’Donoghue had said that Mr Sheeran and the other claimants should pay their own legal costs, claiming they had failed to provide documents and demonstrated ‘awkwardness and opacity’.

Ed Sheeran and two of his songwriting partners, Steven McCutcheon and Snow Patrol‘s John McDaid, have been awarded £900,000 in legal costs following a High Court copyright win.The three artists – who worked together on Sheeran’s 2017 single ‘Shape Of You’ – had been accused of lifting from a song, ‘Oh Why’, by musicians Sami Chokri (aka Sami Switch) and Ross O’Donoghue. The pair claimed Sheeran’s song featured “particular lines and phrases” similar to their own song, calling him “a magpie”.Sheeran, McCutcheon and McDaid denied accusations of plagiarism, with the former saying in his testimony on March 7: “I have always tried to be completely fair in crediting anyone who makes any contribution to any song I write.” McDaid, in his testimony, called the idea of plagiarism “abhorrent”.On April 6, the justice in the case ruled in favour of Sheeran, saying he “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from ‘Oh Why’ when writing ‘Shape Of You’.Yesterday (June 21), Justice Zacaroli awarded Sheeran and his co-writers £916,200.

Ed Sheeran has said that he now films “every single writing session” to prevent future copyright cases into his songs.Sheeran recently won a copyright case at the High Court over claims that he plagiarised hit song ‘Shape Of You’ from two other writers.Sheeran along with two of his co-writers – Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steve McCutcheon – were accused of plagiarising part of a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri, who performs under the alias Sami Switch.Sheeran and his co-authors, denied all allegations of copying, claiming that they don’t remember hearing ‘Oh Why’ before the claims were lodged.

had won the high-profile copyright case brought against him by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, over similarities between Sheeran’s 2017 hit “Shape Of You”, and Chokri’s 2015 release “Oh Why”. Ed Sheeran in a video statement posted to Instagram after the ‘Shape of You’ verdict was deliveredSteady on. A key pillar of Sheeran’s defence was that the passage in question – four ascending pre-hook “oh I”s – was such a common and formulaic echo of the pentatonic scale, so overused and obvious, that it was all but unattributable.

Ed Sheeran has detailed the stress and ‘cost on [his] mental health’ caused by the Shape Of You copyright battle.  The 31-year-old singer won the High Court case on Wednesday alongside Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, also known as Steve Mac.   Two songwriters, Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, had alleged that Sheeran’s 2017 hit single infringed on ‘particular lines and phrases’ from their track, Oh Why.

High Court judge has ruled. 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 that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from Oh Why when writing 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.

Ed Sheeran has won his High Court copyright battle over his hit song Shape of You.The singer, who recently spoke about being supported by his wife Cherry Seaborn throughout the case, was accused of being a "magpie" who "borrows" ideas from other artists, and he denied copying other songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue and their song Oh Why, which was released in 2015. Chokri and O'Donoghue had claimed the Shape of You chorus, which 31 year old Sheeran sings out “oh I oh I oh I”, was actually stolen from their own chorus “oh why oh why oh why”. Mr Justice Zacaroli concluded Mr Sheeran "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied the phrase in a ruling today (April 6).

Ed Sheeran has won his copyright case at the High Court over claims that he plagiarised hit song ‘Shape Of You’ from two other writers.Sheeran along with two of his co-writers – Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steve McCutcheon – had been accused of plagiarising part of a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri, who performs under the alias Sami Switch.Chokri claimed that Sheeran’s 2017 hit infringed “particular lines and phrases” of his 2015 song. He and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue further alleged that the main “Oh I” hook in ‘Shape Of You’ is “strikingly similar” to the “Oh Why” refrain in their own song.Chokri also claimed that he and Sheeran had “overlapping circles” of artists, writers and producers in common, stating that there had been a “concerted plan” to bring ‘Oh Why’ to Sheeran’s attention, were denied by Sheeran’s party.Sheeran and his co-authors, denied all allegations of copying, claiming that they don’t remember hearing ‘Oh Why’ before the claims were lodged.Now, after an 11 day trial, Justice Zacaroli ruled this morning (April 6) that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from ‘Oh Why’ when writing ‘Shape of You.’Zacaroli did acknowledge there were “similarities between the one-bar phrase” in ‘Shape Of You’ and ‘Oh Why’, but added that “such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement” of copyright.He went on to say there were “differences between the relevant parts” of the songs, which “provide compelling evidence that the ‘Oh I’ phrase” in ‘Shape Of You’ “originated from sources other than ‘Oh Why'”.He said there was only a “speculative foundation” that Sheeran had head Chokri’s song before writing ‘Shape of You’.

Ed Sheeran and his co-writers in the ‘Shape of You’ copyright trial has said the legal row has been “deeply traumatising” for them.Ian Mill QC described the dispute as “terribly, terribly unfortunate” at a hearing in London yesterday (March 23) and argued that the case “should never have got to trial” [via Metro].The High Court was informed of Mill’s comments as the trial is expected to conclude today (March 22) and Mr Justice Zacaroli’s judgment to follow at a later date.Grime artist Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch, is claiming that Sheeran’s 2017 hit infringes “particular lines and phrases” of his 2015 song ‘Oh Why’.