British singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran has testified that he did not steal any ideas from other songwriters for one of his mega-hits.
According to People magazine, during a London High Court hearing on Monday, Ed Sheeran denied that he stole ideas from songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue on his 2017 smash-hit ‘Shape of You’. Chokri and O’Donoghue had earlier claimed that their song ‘Oh Why’, which they released in 2015 under the name Sami Switch, sounds “strikingly similar” to Sheeran’s ‘Oh I’ hook in ‘Shape of You’.
Addressing this, the British singer said that he had cleared parts of songs with “lots” of unknown artists, according to a news outlet.
Sheeran also denied the claim made by the songwriters’ lawyer that he “borrows ideas and throws them into his songs. Sometimes he will acknowledge it but sometimes he won’t,” as per the outlet.
He pointed out that he has often shared credit with lesser-known artists. He used ‘Shivers’ and ‘Visiting Hours’ as an example.
Sheeran had created ‘Shape of You’ with co-writers Steve Mac. Whose real name is Steven McCutcheon, and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid. Both of them were in attendance at the hearing.
This is not the first instance of Sheeran being sue over copyright infringement. Previously, in 2016, he was sued over his single ‘Photograph’. And two years later was sued for USD 100 million due to ‘Thinking Out Loud’.
As per People magazine, the lawsuit over ‘Photograph’ settle out of court but the battle over. ‘Thinking Out Loud’ is believe to still be ongoing.
Meanwhile, last week, Sheeran had teased his latest collaboration with Camila Cabello. On her single ‘Bam Bam’, which released on Friday.