Songwriter 'shocked' that Ed Sheeran 'copied' his song

Musician Sami Chokri has described the "shock" he felt when he heard Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You and noticed its similarity to one of his songs.

The writer has accused Sheeran and his co-writers of copying his track Oh Why for portions of their 2017 smash hit.

"I was a passenger in my girlfriend's car and Shape Of You came on the radio," Chokri said in a witness statement to London's High Court.

"She and I were both shocked to hear the similarities."

"She pulled over the car and we said, 'this is what everyone is talking about,'" he added, referring to messages they had received from friends alerting them to Sheeran's track.

Mr Chokri later put out a Facebook post saying, "Anyone else think Ed Sheeran's new song Shape Of You chorus sounds familiar lol?"

"I had lots of responses," he said, with several people "asking what we were going to do about it".

He also claimed that the late SBTV founder Jamal Edwards, a friend of Sheeran's, responded to the post with a "shifty eyes" emoji, but later deleted his comment.

"I thought maybe he had played a part in showing [my song] to Ed," he told the court on Monday. "I had no reason to ever consider it coming to circumstances like these."

Mr Chokri and his co-writer Ross O'Donoghue subsequently accused Shape Of You's writers - Sheeran, Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac - of plagiarising their song.

They denied the claims and launched legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the High Court to declare they had not infringed any copyright.

Several months later, 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".

Ian Mill QC, representing Sheeran and his co-writers, noted that Chokri had not registered his song with music rights body the PRS until April 2017 - three months after Shape Of You was released.

"The fact you weren't registered is indicative of the fact you weren't earning money" from the song, which was part of his Solace EP, Mr Mill said.

"My main focus with this EP was to get my name out there," replied Mr Chokri. "I didn't think about money at all."

Mr Mill suggested the real reason for registering the song was so Mr Chokri could pursue his copyright claim.

"I was advised that would be the next step," he told the court.

An estimated £20m in royalty payments has been frozen since that point.

In his witness statement, Mr Chokri said he had written Oh Why in June 2014 at a time when he was "truly in pain".

"I remember specifically that I was drinking some wine that day whilst we were writing and recording," he wrote.

"I was saying, 'Why do I keep putting myself back in this place?'

"I recall singing to Ross 'Oh why, Oh why, Oh why?' and Ross saying something along the lines of, 'That's It! Let's work on that'.

"The song really resonated because it was a little bit different to anything else that I had made."

Mr Chokri later tried to get Ed Sheeran to listen to the song "as I was inspired by his success and stardom and his endorsement would be a significant boost".

"I thought he would be accessible because we have friends in common," he continued, "and I knew he was into my style of music."

To increase his chances, he sent the EP to several people in Sheeran's circle, including producer Adam Coltman, musician Jake Roche and Edwards.

Before his death, Mr Edwards denied having played the song to Sheeran in a written statement.

"Even if I was sent a copy, I did not share it with Ed," he wrote.

"I respect what Jamal says," Mr Chokri responded in court, "but I also believe that Jamal would share music with Ed Sheeran."

Sheeran and his co-writers have all denied hearing Mr Chokri's song before writing Shape Of You.

In written evidence, the star said the contested element of Shape of You was "very short", and the relevant parts of both songs were "entirely commonplace".

He said: "Even so, if I had heard Oh Why at the time and had referenced it, I would have taken steps to clear it.

"I have been as scrupulous as I possibly can and have even given credits to people who I believe may have been no more than a mere influence for a songwriting element. This is because I want to treat other songwriters fairly."