Sheeran had been accused of plagiarising the 2015 song “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who claimed the “Oh I” hook in Sheeran’s “Shape of You” was strikingly similar to an “Oh Why” refrain on his own track. Sheeran said he did not remember hearing “Oh Why” before the legal case.
On Wednesday, Judge Antony Zacaroli ruled that Sheeran had not plagiarised Chokri’s 2015 track, stating that the singer-songwriter had “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied” Chokri’s work.
Zacaroli acknowledged there were similarities between the one-bar phrase in the two songs, but said that "such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement" of copyright.
Zacaroli’s ruling will come as a huge relief to Sheeran. Legal proceedings against the singer-songwriter were launched back in 2018 and resulted in an 11-day trial in London last month.
