Sheeran settles a £16m lawsuit over ‘copied’ Photograph
ED SHEERAN has reached an agreement to end a £16million copyright claim over his song Photograph.
Sheeran was sued by songwriters Thomas Leonard and Martin Harrington last June when they claimed his hit single had a similar structure to their track Amazing, released by Matt Cardle in 2012.
The duo argued in court that the tracks shared 39 identical notes, with similarities ‘instantly recognisable to the ordinary observer’. On Friday papers were filed dismissing the case ‘with prejudice’, with the BBC reporting that a California federal court would enforce the terms of the settlement.
The songwriters’ lawyer Richard Busch — who won the Blurred Lines case for the family of Marvin Gaye — has refused to comment on the precise terms of the agreement.
Last year former X Factor winner Cardle took to Twitter to clarify he was not involved in the Sheeran case. He wrote: ‘This is not my lawsuit. I think Ed Sheeran is a genius and 100 per cent deserves all his success.’
In 2015 Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were ordered to pay $7.3million (£5.8million) in copyright infringement due to similarities between their single Blurred Lines and soul star Gaye’s Got To Give It Up.
Thicke and Williams denied any wrongdoing and the payout was reduced on appeal, but the Gaye estate receives 50 per cent of publishing and songwriting revenues from Blurred Lines.
Author: Nicole Le Marie
