Ed Sheeran has spent a lot more time thinking about copyright than he might have liked over the past few years.
The pop star successfully beat claims that he copied elements of his hit ‘Shape of You’ at the England and Wales High Court in April.
He will soon face a trial in the US over separate claims that he plagiarised Marvin Gaye’s song ‘Let’s Get It On’.
By his own admission, he’s getting fed up.
Sheeran took his ‘Shape of You’ win in April as an opportunity to raise the alarm on what he saw as a culture of baseless music copyright litigation.
"I feel claims like this are way too common now. This really does have to end.
"It's really damaging to the songwriting industry. There's only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music.
“Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 million songs a year, and there's only 12 notes that are available,” Sheeran said.
His comments likely resonated with defendants in other high-profile copyright suits, such as Katy Perry, who escaped $2.8 million in copyright damages on appeal in March.
Sheeran hopes his success will discourage more of what he sees as opportunistic claims designed to win quick settlements.
