ED SHEERAN: SHAPE OF YOU
Sheeran’s victory in Manhattan Thursday was his second such case in two years, after he also won a plagiarism battle over his 2017 hit Shape Of You.
A judge in the UK High Court ruled that Sheeran had not copied the 2015 song Oh Why by Sami Chokri.
The grime artist, who performs under the name Sami Switch, had claimed the ‘Oh I’ hook in Shape Of You was ‘strikingly similar’ to an ‘Oh why’ refrain on his track.
Sheeran said after the ruling that such ‘baseless’ claims were ‘way too common’.
Sami Chokri (left, outside court in 2022) and Ross O’Donoghue (right) had claimed Sheeran ripped off their song 2015 song Oh Why with his 2017 tune Shape of You
Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had ‘neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied’ Chokri’s song.
He recognised ‘similarities between the one-bar phrase’ in Shape of You and Oh Why, but said ‘such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement’ of copyright.
He added that there were ‘differences between the relevant parts’ of the songs, which ‘provide compelling evidence that the ‘Oh I’ phrase’ in Sheeran’s song ‘originated from sources other than Oh Why’.
During the case, Sheeran appeared stung by the accusation that he had stolen another artist’s work without giving them due credit.
Chokri and his co-write Ross O’Donoghue were ordered to pay Sheeran $1.1million in legal fees after the case.
ED SHEERAN: PHOTOGRAPH
Sheeran settled out of court after being accused of copying the track ‘Amazing’, recorded by British X-Factor winner Matt Cardle (pictured)
Sheeran also faced a copyright suit over his hit song Photograph after he was accused of ‘note-for-note copying’ the track ‘Amazing’, recorded by British X Factor winner Matt Cardle.
The case was reportedly settled out of court after the song’s writers had filed a lawsuit in 2016 seeking $20million.
Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard’s complaint said Sheeran and his writing partner ‘copied and exploited… the work of other active, professional songwriters, on a breathtaking scale, unabashedly taking credit for the work of these songwriters…’
The lawsuit alleged that the chorus of “Photograph” and Cardle’s “Amazing” share 39 identical notes.
ROBIN THICKE: BLURRED LINES
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were ordered to pay the family of Marvin Gaye $5million after they were found to have copied one of his hits.
The duo were found to have copied Gaye’s 1977 hit Got to Give It Up for their track Blurred Lines.
Gaye’s family initially won the case in 2015, which was upheld by a California court on appeal in 2018.
The family were also awarded 50 percent of all future royalties earned by Blurred Lines.
But the $5million payout was a fraction of the $16.6m Williams and Thicke were revealed to have made from the song during the initial trial.
Some within the music industry slammed the initial verdict for punishing Thicke’s song over copying the ‘feel’ of Gaye’s classic – rather than directly plagiarizing musical phrases or lyrics.
The appeal court also split on this, and one of the three judges dissented from the ruling.
Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen said the two songs ‘differed in melody, harmony and rhythm’ and wrote that the verdict ‘strikes a devastating blow to future musicians and composers everywhere’.
The verdict sparked a number of similar cases against artists including Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Madonna and Miley Cyrus.
LED ZEPPELIN STAIRWAY: TO HEAVEN
Rock legends Led Zeppelin won a six-year legal tussle to prove they had not copied a song by Randy California for their iconic track ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
The estate of the late California filed a lawsuit in 2014 alleging that the Zeppelin song had been nicked from the single ‘Taurus’ by the 1960s band Spirit, for whom California had been the lead guitarist.
In 2020, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict that found the song had not been copied.
Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant told the BBC in 2021: ‘There are zillions and zillions of songs that are carrying the same chord progression, so it was very unfortunate, and it was unpleasant for everybody.’
Led Zeppelin pictured at the 1969 Bath Festival. From left, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, John Bonham, Jimmy Page
GEORGE HARRISON: MY SWEET LORD
Harrison (second from left) with The Beatles in 1967
Former Beatle George Harrison was found guilty of ‘subconsciously’ plagiarizing the 1962 John Mack tune ‘He’s So Fine’ for his 1970 hit ‘My Sweet Lord’.
The 1976 case saw Judge Richard Owen of the US District Court in Manhattan find Harrison guilty of copyright infringement but ‘not deliberately’.
Owen, himself a composer, said: ‘It is clear that My Sweet Lord is the very same song as ‘He’s So Fine.’ This is, under the law infringement of copyright and is no less so even though subconsciously accomplished.’
Owen said it was apparent from the trial evidence that Harrison had not been conscious of the fact that he was plagiarizing the theme of ‘He’s So Fine’.
But he added: ‘In seeking musical materials to clothe his thought…there came to the surface of his mind a particular combination that pleased him as being one he felt would be appealing to a prospective listener…[Mr. Harrison’s subconscious mind] knew this combination of sounds would work because it already had worked in a song his conscious mind did not remember.’
