Ed Sheeran says copyright battle made him feel dirty

Ed Sheeran, 31, recently undertook a copyright battle for his song 'shape of you' which left him feeling "dirty". The star has since decided to film all his song writing sessions, to protect against future claims.

Ed, along with producer Steven McCutcheon and Snow Patrol's John McDaid, have faced accusations of copyright infringement. It was claimed the track, 'Shape of You', copied, 'Oh Why' made by Ross O'Donoghue and Sami Chokri in 2015.

In May 2018, the Sheeran team began legal proceedings, and they asked the High Court to declare no infringement towards Sami and Ross's copyright.

Following their subsequent legal victory, the star spoke to BBC Two's Newsnight, stating that the copyright claims made him feel "dirty". Sheeran previously faced a claim in 2017 for his song 'Photograph'. The star settled the claim and said: "I just stopped playing it. I felt weird about it, it kind of made me feel dirty." He now films the entire creative process of new songs to avoid any further copyright claims being made against him.

Ed said, "We've had claims come through on songs and now we go, here's the footage, you watch, you'll see there's nothing there". Speaking about the 'Shape of You' claim, the pop star said the whole ordeal made him sad and changed how he views song writing. The singer spoke about starting to feel apprehensive with new songs and said, "You find yourself second guessing yourself".

All three authors for the 'Shape of You' hit denied all allegations of copying and said they don't remember hearing 'Oh Why' before the legal battle. During the trial in London, the star denied he "borrowed" ideas and insisted he "always tries to be fair" in crediting those who contributed to his albums.

A High Court judge concluded that the singer-songwriter "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied from 'Oh Why' when writing the No.1 hit.
 

The Johnson Partnership

Nottingham Solicitors