Ed Sheeran "A lot of my peers want to see me fail.
Four years after the first complaint, the trial against Ed Sheeran for the alleged plagiarism of
Shape of you
has begun in London with the intervention of the prosecution attorney, who has branded the British artist as a "magpie" who "borrows "consciously the ideas of other musicians.
Sheeran, who was present on Friday during the first session of the case, now faces
three weeks of proceedings
that will determine whether one of the greatest successes of his professional career is based on orchestrated plagiarism.
Sami Chokri, one of the complainants, arriving at trial. ADRIAN DENNIS
According to the musicians Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue, Sheeran, helped by Steven McCutcheon and Johnny McDaid, the two co-authors of
Shape of you
, would have created a theme that "violates what is allowed in several lines and paragraphs of the song", then, according to them, it looks too much like a composition of theirs titled
Oh why
.
Sheeran previously had to acknowledge
Shape of You
's similarities to
the '90s hit
No scrubs
,
which is why
its creators were included in the
song's credits.
Faced with the accusations that arose shortly after releasing one of the greatest hits in recent musical history, Sheeran and his two songwriting partners decided to initiate legal proceedings in May 2018 to clear his name, since the song is one of the pillars of the musical career of the Halifax artist;
the matter threatened to cast doubt on the rest of his career.
Shape of You
was not only one of the biggest hits around the world in 2017, but it also holds the recognition of being
the most listened song in the history of Spotify
with more than 3,000 million reproductions.
Faced with this legal threat, and far from shrinking, Chokri and O'Donoghue responded less than two months later with another complaint for "copyright
infringement
,
damage to their reputation and economic gain related to that intentional infringement
."
The costs of the legal process will exceed 3.5 million euros between both parties.
The accusation has synthesized its arguments in two questions and one hypothesis: "
How does Ed Sheeran write his songs? How does he come up with things during his composition sessions?
Perhaps everything is less spontaneous and is due to the fact that he collects and develops ideas from other artists.
During the process, Sheeran's lawyer and his two companions will try to prove that their clients do not remember hearing
Oh why
, a song practically unknown until now, before the composition of
Shape of You
.
"
How can more than one person subconsciously copy something?
It is absolutely inconceivable," argued the defense attorney.
The lawyer for Chokri and O'Donoghue took advantage of that argument to turn it around, because, although he does not see it likely that several people would be inspired by something without being aware of it, he believes that
then it is clear that they did it premeditated
.
"Mr. Sheeran has talent, that's for sure, you could even say he's a genius. But you could also say he's a magpie who borrows ideas from others to use in his own songs, no matter
how much he sometimes realizes and others don't
," says Andrew Sutcliffe, attorney for the prosecution.
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