Ed Sheeran beats second lawsuit in two weeks that claimed he copied Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On

ED SHEERAN: FORM OF YOU

Sheeran’s win in Manhattan on Thursday was his second such case in two years, after he also won a plagiarism battle over his 2017 hit Shape Of You.

A UK Supreme Court judge ruled that Sheeran had not copied Sami Chokri’s 2015 song Oh Why.

The grime artist, who performs under the moniker Sami Switch, had claimed that the “Oh I” hook in Shape Of You was strikingly similar to an “Oh why” chorus on his song.

Sheeran said after the ruling that such “baseless” claims were “far too common.”

Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had “neither intentionally or unknowingly copied” Chokri’s song.

He recognized “similarities between the one bar phrase” in Shape of You and Oh Why, but said “such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement” of copyright.

He added that there were “differences between the relevant parts” of the songs, which provide “compelling evidence that the ‘Oh I’ line” in Sheeran’s song “came from sources other than Oh Why”.

During the case, Sheeran seemed stung by the accusation that he stole another artist’s work without giving them credit.

Chokri and his co-author Ross O’Donoghue were ordered to pay Sheeran $1.1 million in legal fees after the case.

ED SHEERAN: PHOTO

Sheeran also faced a copyright lawsuit over his hit Photograph, after he was accused of ‘copying note for note’ of the track ‘Amazing’, recorded by British X Factor winner Matt Cardle.

The case was reportedly settled out of court after the song’s writers filed a lawsuit in 2016 demanding $20 million.

Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard’s complaint said that Sheeran and his writing partner “copied and exploited the work of other active, professional songwriters on a breathtaking scale, unashamedly taking credit for the work of these songwriters…”

The lawsuit alleged that the chorus of “Photograph” and Cardle’s “Amazing” share 39 identical notes.

ROBIN THICKE: BLUR LINES

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams had to pay Marvin Gaye’s family $5 million after it was found that they had copied one of his hits.

The duo turned out to have copied Gaye’s 1977 hit Got to Give It Up for their song Blurred Lines.

Gaye’s family initially won the case in 2015, which was upheld on appeal by a California court in 2018.

The family also received 50 percent of all future royalties earned by Blurred Lines.

But the $5 million payout was a fraction of the $16.6 million Williams and Thicke made on the song’s first trial.

Some in the music industry disapproved of the initial verdict punishing Thicke’s song for copying the “feel” of Gaye’s classic—rather than directly plagiarizing musical phrases or lyrics.

The Court of Appeal was also divided on this and one of the three judges disagreed with the ruling.

Circuit judge Jacqueline Nguyen said the two songs “differed in melody, harmony and rhythm” and wrote that the verdict “dealts a devastating blow to aspiring musicians and composers everywhere.”

The verdict led to a number of similar cases against artists such as Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Madonna and Miley Cyrus.

LED ZEPPELIN TRAP: TO HEAVEN

Rock legends Led Zeppelin won a six-year legal battle to prove they didn’t copy a Randy California song for their iconic song “Stairway to Heaven.”

The estate of the late California filed a lawsuit in 2014 alleging that the Zeppelin song was nicked from the single “Taurus” by 1960s band Spirit, for whom California had been the lead guitarist.

In 2020, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict ruling that the song was not copied.

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant told the BBC in 2021, “There are countless and countless songs with the same chord progression, so it was a real shame and it was off-putting for everyone.”

GEORGE HARRISON: MY DEAR SIR

Former Beatle George Harrison was found guilty of ‘unknowingly’ plagiarizing John Mack’s 1962 song ‘He’s So Fine’ for his 1970 hit ‘My Sweet Lord’.

In the 1976 case, Judge Richard Owen of the US District Court in Manhattan found Harrison guilty of copyright infringement, but “not intentionally.”

A composer himself, Owen said, ‘Obviously My Sweet Lord is exactly the same song as ‘He’s So Fine’. This is copyright infringement under the law and is no less, even if it happens unknowingly.’

Owen said the trial evidence clearly showed that Harrison was unaware that he was plagiarizing the theme of “He’s So Fine.”

But he added, “In searching for musical material to clothe his thoughts … a certain combination rose to the surface of his mind that pleased him as one he thought would appeal to a prospective listener …[Mr. Harrison’s subconscious mind] knew this combination of sounds would work because it had already worked in a song his conscious mind couldn’t remember.”