Ed Sheeran gets it (copy)right in Shape of You battle

Ed Sheeran has won a High Court copyright battle over his immensely successful 2017 hit, Shape of You.

The ruling, which was handed down today, found that any similarities in Sheeran’s “Oh I” hook and Sami Switch’s “Oh Why” hook were not enough to be considered plagiarism. The four note melody was said to be so short, simple and commonplace that it was not believable that Sheeran had been inspired by other songs to create it.

Mr Justice Zacaroli found that Sheeran "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied the hook from grime artist Switch’s song when writing his own. The judge found that despite there being some similarities in the phrases there were also significant differences. He reminded the court that such similarities are “no more than a starting point when considering whether one is copied from another". The “Oh Why” hook was said to be the central part of the song reflecting a “slow, brooding and questioning mood”. The “Oh I” phrase in Shape of You played a different role of being something catchy to fill the bar before the repeated phrase “I’m in love with your body”.  

It was also found that the evidence put forward by Sheeran showed that his song originated from other sources. Andrew Sutcliffe QC, representing Switch and his co-writer, labelled Sheeran a "magpie", claiming he "habitually copies" other artists without giving them credit. During Sheeran’s evidence he strongly refuted these allegations. He further denied being sent a copy of “Oh Why” by his friend, the late music producer, Jamal Edwards to which the judge agreed. The judge pointed out that the claims made that Sheeran had heard “Oh Why” before writing his own were merely speculative and found, based on all the evidence, that he had not heard it.

In a joint statement put out today, Sheeran and his co-writers have spoken of the pain of having their integrity questioned and the impact on their mental health in what they say was a “deeply traumatising” experience.