British musician Ed Sheeran was awarded more than $1 million in damages on Tuesday to cover his court costs after winning a legal battle with songwriters who accused him of plagiarism.
In early April, the London High Court agreed with Ed Sheeran
At the beginning of April, the High Court of London agreed with the 31-year-old singer, at the end of a trial that he considered emblematic of the abusive practices that plague the music industry, reported ElNational.
In the court’s opinion, Sheeran did not “deliberately” or “unconsciously” copy part of the song’s melody from “Oh Why» (2015), composed by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, for his «Shape of You», one of the most listened to songs in the world.
In a supplemental ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that the plaintiffs should pay court costs of $1.125 million.
During the trial, which lasted ten days in March, the two songs were played and, by mistake, an excerpt from an unreleased Ed Sheeran song.
Ed Sheeran denied ‘borrowing’ ideas from lesser-known songwriters
Ed Sheeran denied having “borrowed” ideas from lesser-known composers, while the plaintiffs’ lawyer, while acknowledging his “genius”, accused him of being “a magpie”, a bird often characterized as a thief.
In 2017, Ed Sheeran was the world’s best-selling artist, 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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