Ed Sheeran ‘Borrows Ideas & Throws Them Into His Songs,' Lawyer Claims In Copyright Lawsuit

Singer Ed Sheeran is facing a lawsuit over his popular song “Shape of You.”

The copyright trial began earlier this week and is expected to take up to three weeks to allow all sides to present their evidence in this case.

Although Ed Sheeran already gave TLC’s “No Scrubs” songwriting credit on his 2017 hit single, two other artists are insisting that they deserve to be credited for their contributions to the hit song.

Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue have claimed that “Shape Of You” lifts “particular lines and phrases” from their 2015 song “Oh Why.” Chokri claims that he actually sent “Oh Why” to Sheeran in the hopes of a collaboration.

Sheeran has denied all allegations and asked the court to declare that no copyright infringement on the song has taken place. Sheeran and his team are hoping that this lawsuit clears up quickly, as the music licensing body PRS For Music has banned him and his co-writers from collecting approximately £20M in royalties until the lawsuit is resolved.

In the courtroom, Chokri and O’Donoghue’s lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe argued that Sheeran’s writing process involves “the collection and development of ideas over time which reference and interpolate other artists … Mr. Sheeran is undoubtedly very talented, he is a genius. But he is also a magpie. He borrows ideas and throws them into his songs, sometimes he will acknowledge it but sometimes he won’t … depends on who you are and whether he thinks he can get away with it.”

Sheeran’s lawyers insist that the singer and the two co-writers for the song have no memory of ever hearing the song “Oh Why” and vehemently deny that any plagiarism took place.

Sheeran’s attorney, Ian Mill, said, “How can more than one person subconsciously copy something? That is completely inconceivable.” He added that “conscious copying” would require “all three to have known at that time of writing that they were copying ‘Oh Why.’”

Unfortunately, this is not the only trouble that the “Thinking Out Loud” has had recently.

The “Overpass Graffiti” singer, now 31, is planning to build a private burial change on his 16-acre Framlingham estate in the U.K., despite concern from neighbors.

As The Blast previously reported, the eco-friendly renovation is estimated to cost over $5 million dollars, which includes the construction of a two-story private chapel complete with its own crypt. The chapel’s construction was first approved in November 2019 and includes a brick, timber, and concrete body vault. The chapel itself will feature stained glass windows and an environmentally-friendly heat pump to keep it warm during the cold winter months.

It should be noted that there are no laws against burying bodies on private land in England or Wales. Court documents reveal that Sheeran applied for a double grave plot-sized burial zone which would be accessible through a ground slab located in the back of the church.

At the time that Sheeran initially applied to build the chapel, East Suffolk council principal design and conservation officer Robert Scrimgeour wrote, “I have no concerns arising and I maintain my previous view that I have no objection to this application.”

However, his neighbors are hoping that the “Shivers” will change his mind.

A local news outlet spoke to one local resident identified as Anna Woods, who was not happy with the constructions of the “Castle on the Hill” singer’s plans to create his own private resting place in his backyard.

“I feel I must comment on this plan for a place of worship in a garden,” she said. “The area is well-served by local churches and I feel there is no need for a well-known person to create his own island of calm when lovely places of worship abound in the area.”

She added that his desire to have a resting place separate from everyone else was a sign that there was something “wrong” with modern culture. She asked, “Are celebrities now so detached from reality that their every living breath and now even the act of dying be apart from the rest of us?”