Ed Sheeran has reportedly been cut off from royalties for his smash hit “Shape Of You” until a British court decides if he ripped off another songwriter.
The singer is being accused of copyright infringement by Sam Chokri (aka Sami Switch), who alleges the chorus of “Shape Of You,” released in 2017, copies Chokri’s 2015 song “Oh Why.”
Chokri, who claims he sent his song to Sheeran’s reps in hopes of working with him, accuses the superstar of being “consciously or subconsciously in the habit of appropriating the compositional skill and labour of other songwriters.”
Sheeran has denied the allegations.
Chokri’s filing mentions that Sheeran was forced to add three songwriters to the credits for “Shape Of You” because the track borrowed from the TLC hit “No Scrubs.”
He also claims Sheeran had to credit several songwriters on “Strip That Down” – the Liam Payne ft. Quavo track that Sheeran wrote – because it used elements of Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me.”
Next year, Sheeran will be in court to defend himself against a 2016 lawsuit filed by the estate of Ed Townsend Jr., co-writer of the 1973 Marvin Gaye song “Let’s Get It On.” It alleged that Sheeran’s 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud” copies many of the elements of “Let’s Get It On.”
The lawsuit claims “the Defendants copied the ‘heart’ of Let’s and repeated it continually throughout Thinking. . . . The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of Thinking are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of Let’s.”
Sheeran has denied the allegation.
Last year, Sheeran settled a copyright infringement lawsuit from songwriters Thomas Leonard and Martin Harrington, who alleged that his 2014 hit “Photograph” was a “note-for-note copying” of their 2009 song “Amazing.” The plaintiffs were added to the song’s credits.
Also last year, songwriters Sean Carey and Beau Golden filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sheeran that claimed the melody of “The Rest Of Our Life” – which Sheeran wrote for country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill – is ripped from their song “When I Found You.” The case was settled in November.