Ed Sheeran is no stranger to accusations of copyright infringement, and now he’s facing a lawsuit over one of his most popular songs, “Shape of You.”
The Evening Standard reports that Ed and his co-writers on the song, Johnny McDaid and Steven “Steve Mac” McCutcheon, are accused of lifting elements of the song “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who records under the name Sami Switch.
The case is being heard Friday in London’s High Court in what’s expected to be a three-week trial, and royalty payments on the song have reportedly been stopped while the dispute is ongoing.
According to The Evening Standard, back in 2018, Ed, Johnny and Steve brought legal proceedings against Chokri and his co-writer, Ross O’Donoghue, in an effort to secure a summary judgement; in other words, they wanted a judge to declare there was no copyright infringement. Two months later, Chokri and O’Donoghue filed a counterclaim accusing the three men of copyright infringement, and requesting damages.
Ed has previously faced copyright infringement lawsuits over his songs “Photograph” and “Thinking Out Loud.” The “Photograph” lawsuit was settled out of court in 2017 with no admission of guilt. As for “Thinking Out Loud,” a judge ruled last year that that particular lawsuit can go forward.
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