Ed Sheeran awarded £900,000 interim costs payment following copyright case win
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Ed Sheeran
Credit: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0
English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and his co-writers have been awarded over £900,000 in legal costs as an interim payment following his success in a high-profile court battle with a man who accused him of plagiarism.
The High Court in London previously rejected allegations by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch, that Sheeran’s 2017 hit Shape of You infringed on his copyright by plagiarising the main hook from his 2015 song Oh Why.
The case was brought to court by Sheeran after the Performing Rights Society (PRS) suspended payments to him on foot of correspondence from Chokri.
After an 11-day hearing, Mr Justice Zacaroli ruled in April that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied the earlier song.
Sheeran and his co-claimants have now been awarded an interim payment of account of costs of £916,200 by the judge, the Law Gazette reports. Chokri’s team had argued against any order as to costs.
Mr Justice Zacaroli said the commencement of proceedings by Sheeran’s team “was a reasonable reaction in circumstances where […] it was fair to see the defendants’ conduct as a tactic to extract a settlement”.
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