No, he didn’t cheat. Ed Sheeran has not committed plagiarism for his phenomenon title “Shape of You”, 5 billion views on YouTube, according to British justice. This Wednesday, the High Court in London dismissed two songwriters who had seized it, finding that part of the melody of one of the most listened to titles in the world sounded too much like theirs.

Thus, Ed Sheeran did not copy, “neither deliberately nor unknowingly”, part of the melody of the song “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue for his planetary hit, the best-selling in the world in 2017 , which also has 3 billion streams on Spotify and almost 6 billion views on YouTube.

20 million pounds at stake

Both songs were played on Friday in the courtroom presided over by Judge Antony Zacaroli. Yes, the two passages in question are similar: the judge acknowledged “similarities” but this does not constitute copyright infringement. Especially since the passage of “Shape of you” in question is consistent with the whole of the song, which differs from “Oh Why”.

Because of the procedure, the payment of royalties linked to “Shape Of You”, estimated at 20 million pounds sterling (24 million euros at the current rate) according to the newspaper The Telegraph, was suspended by the collective management organization PRS.

In 2017, Ed Sheeran was also the best-selling artist in the world, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), with his third album “Divide” which includes the single “Shape Of You”.

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