Enlarge image
Ed Sheeran: Dispute over "Shape of You"
Photo: BEN STANSALL / AFP
A copyright lawsuit in Great Britain is actually about Ed Sheeran's megahit "Shape of You" – but now, at least for a short time, another song was the focus of attention.
"It's a song I wrote last January," the visibly confused singer said to his lawyers when a snippet of the song, which has never been played publicly, was heard in London's High Court.
"Where did you get that?"
Sheeran's attorney said it was an accident.
An incorrect folder was opened on the computer of Steven McCutcheon, one of the co-authors of Shape of You.
In the copyright lawsuit, songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue accuse Sheeran of partially basing "Shape of You" on their song "Oh Why."
Sheeran denies that, saying he had never heard "Oh Why" before the two filed their lawsuit.
Sheeran co-wrote Shape of You with John McDaid and McCutcheon;
the song released in 2017 is his biggest success to date.
bbr/AFP