The four-year legal battle between British musician Ed Sheeran and songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O`Donoghue over plagiarism charges against Sheeran for his chartbuster `Shape of You` has come to an end, with a court ruling in Sheeran`s favour, reports `Variety`.
The U.K. High Court ruled on Wednesday that Sheeran had not plagiarized the 2015 song `Oh Why` by Sami Chokri. As per `Variety`, in his ruling, Judge Antony Zacaroli said that Sheeran had "neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied" Chokri`s work.
He added that there were "similarities between the one-bar phrase" in `Shape of You` and `Oh Why` saying, "such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement" of copyright.
After studying both songs, Zacaroli reached to a conclusion that there were "differences between the relevant parts" of the songs, which "provide compelling evidence that the `Oh I` phrase" in `Shape of You`, "originated from sources other than `Oh Why.`"
Sheeran is credited as the author of `Shape of You` alongside Snow Patrol singer Johnny McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, professionally known as Steve Mac. In 2018 Sheeran, McDaid and McCutcheon alongside Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Rokstone Music Limited, Polar Patrol Music and Kobalt Music - issued legal proceedings against Chokri and O`Donoghue in a bid to get a legal declaration saying there was no copyright infringement.
As per media reports, two months later, Chokri and O`Donoghue issued a counterclaim alleging copyright infringement and asking for damages and an account of profits.
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