Ed Sheeran copyright court case live updates: Star giving evidence at High Court to defend Shape Of You | Ents & Arts News

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On Friday, Andrew Sutcliffe QC, representing songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, described Sheeran as a “magpie” who allegedly “borrows” ideas from other artists to use in his songs.

Sheeran and Steven McCutcheon and John McDaid, his co-authors on the 2017 song Shape Of You, began legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed Mr Chokri and Mr O’Donoghue’s copyright.

In July 2018, Mr Chokri and Mr O’Donoghue issued their own claim for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement”.

The hooks of both Shape Of You and Oh Why were played in the court room on Friday.

The questions at the heart of the case are, “How does Ed Sheeran write his music?” and whether he “makes things up as he goes along” in songwriting sessions, Mr Sutcliffe told the court on Friday.

“Or is his songwriting process in truth more nuanced and less spontaneous… involving the collection and development of ideas over time which reference and interpolate other artists,” Mr Sutcliffe told the court.

“This is the defendants’ case. 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.”

Mr Sheeran’s lawyers previously told the High Court that the singer and his co-writers have no recollection of having heard the song Oh Why before the legal battle and “vehemently deny” the claims of copying.

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