Ed Sheeran won a copyright case over his tune "Shape of You" on Wednesday, with a judge ruling in his favour and concluding that there are "significant differences" between the pop star's hit and Sami Switch's song "Oh Why".
"I am satisfied that Mr Sheeran did not subconsciously copy Oh Why in creating Shape", Judge Antony Zacaroli said.
According to the judge, he received "compelling evidence" showing that the origin of "Shape of You" has nothing to do with "Oh Why".
Sami Switch claimed that the main "Oh I" hook in "Shape of You" was plagiarised from his song, telling the court that he felt "robbed" when he heard it. However, the "Shape of You" authors denied ever having heard "Oh Why" before writing their song.
Having won the case, Sheeran released a video statement, saying that such incidents are very common in the music industry and are damaging to songwriters. He also noted that, while there are thousands of songs released daily on Spotify, coincidences are bound to happen.
The copyright case had people divided online, with some claiming that the legal battle was nothing short of a competition between expensive lawyers, and others arguing that Sam Switch, who is significantly less mainstream than Sheeran, has had his own victory as well due to the publicity.
Screenshot
© Photo : Twitter / @CraigJones878
Screenshot
© Photo : Twitter / @OpinionatedYute
Screenshot
© Photo : Twitter / @durnc
"Shape of You" became the world's most digitally streamed song after being released in 2017, also securing Sheeran a Grammy award for Best Pop Solo Performance in 2018.