Ed Sheeran has won a High Court copyright battle over his 2017 hit Shape of You.
Chokri, a grime artist who performs under the name Sami Switch, had claimed the "Oh I" hook in Sheeran's track was "strikingly similar" to an "Oh why" refrain in his own track.Shape of You was the UK's best-selling song of 2017 in the UK and is Spotify's most-streamed ever.Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had "neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied" Chokri's song.
After studying the musical elements, he said 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".He added that there was only a "speculative foundation" for the defence's case that Sheeran had head Chokri's song before writing Shape of You.
Giving evidence, Sheeran denied that he "borrows" ideas from unknown songwriters without acknowledgement, insisting he was always "completely fair" in crediting people who contribute to his work.Andrew Sutcliffe QC, representing Chokri and his co-writer Ross O'Donoghue, labelled Sheeran a "magpie", claiming he "habitually copies" other artists and that it was "extremely likely" he had previously heard Oh Why.