Ed Sheeran
Unreleased song performed in court
Ed Sheeran on his way to court.
© imago/ZUMA Wire
Ed Sheeran reacted with surprise after one of his unreleased songs was played in court in a copyright dispute.
British superstar Ed Sheeran (31) is currently defending himself in a copyright lawsuit against allegations of having plagiarized his hit “Shape of You”. In court, however, another song unhappily took center stage. As reported by the British “Daily Mail”., a short snippet of a previously unreleased song by the singer was accidentally played in front of the High Court in London. Actually, earlier recordings of his mega hit “Shape of You” should have sounded.
“That’s a song I wrote last January,” the singer told his lawyers, and asked in amazement, “Where did you get that from?” One of his lawyers told the court that the incident happened “accidentally”. Apparently, the sequence came from the computer of “Shape of You” co-author Steven McCutcheon, which also contains “unreleased material”. The lawyer apologized with the words: “I’m sure it won’t happen again.”
allegations of plagiarism
Songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue have accused the British pop star of having a central “Oh I” lyric in “Shape of You” which is strikingly similar to the chorus of her own song “Oh Why”. Sheeran denies the allegations.
Ed Sheeran composed “Shape of You” together with Snow Patrol singer Johnny McDaid (45) and producer Steven McCutcheon. The song was released in 2017 – and became its biggest chart success. Sheeran has previously been sued twice for copyright infringement. In 2016 for his single “Photograph” and two years later for “Thinking Out Loud”.