Ed Sheeran's Relief After Winning The 'Shape Of You' Plagiarism Lawsuit

JAKARTA - A month has passed, Ed Sheeran announced that he won the case for the plagiarism lawsuit for the song Shape of You, which he released in 2017. He shared the results of the lawsuit through his latest post on his Instagram account.

Previously, a singer named Sami Chokri sued Ed Sheeran for plagiarizing the song Shape of You. His song, Oh Why, has a similar rhythm to Sheeran's song.

Citing The Independent, Ed Sheeran admitted that he had never heard the song Oh Why before the trial took place. The court also concluded that there were differences between the two songs.

During the trial, Ed Sheeran explained that he was more inspired by TLC's No Scrubs so the Shape of You royalties also went to the No Scrubs writers. Sheeran even gave an example by singing two songs by Nina Simone and Blackstreet which proves the commonality of tones in pop music is common.

It is known that the lawsuit was reported by Chokri since 2018 and only ended on Tuesday, April 5, UK time.

"The use of the initial four notes is short, simple, and it is clear that Mr. Sheeran sought inspiration from other songs," said prosecutor Justice Zacaroli.

"I conclude Sheeran has not heard of Oh Why and has no intention of copying the lyrics of "Oh I" from the "Oh Why" hook," he explained.

Ed Sheeran also made a video containing a statement regarding the status of the trial that was completed.

“I wanted to make this video because I haven't said much since then. While I'm relieved by the results, I admit that situations like these are detrimental to writers in the music industry. Lawsuits are no fun," said Ed Sheeran.

Shape of You is Ed Sheeran's first single from the album Divide which was released in 2017. That same year, it was named the UK's highest-selling and most-listened song on Spotify.