Ed Sheeran has taken legal action in a dispute over his hit track ‘Shape Of You’, it has been revealed.
Singer-songwriter Sam Chokri previously won a ruling from the Performing Rights Society (PRS) after claiming Ed’s track plagiarised his song, ‘Oh Why’.
The decision means that, since May 2018, Ed has made no cash from the song being played or performed.
The Sun reports that Ed has now hit back with legal action of his own, with a writ being filed at London’s High Court.
According to the paper, lawyers acting on behalf of the star claim Sam’s actions have been “damaging [Ed] reputationally” while also affecting his “revenue streams”.
‘Shape Of You’ was the best-selling song of 2017 and has a combined sales total of over 26 million copies. The track also won Ed a Grammy, for Best Solo Pop Performance.
HuffPost UK has contacted Ed’s representative for further comment.
Ed has vehemently denied copying Sam’s track and when the plagiarism claim was first made last September, the star and his co-writers said they had “no recollection of ever having heard of the first or second defendants or of Sami Swich [Sam’s stage name], or ‘Oh Why’.”
The news comes just days after it was revealed that Ed is being sued for $100m (£76.4m) after being accused of ripping off a classic Marvin Gaye hit on his No.1 single ’Thinking Out Loud’.
Legal documents filed in the US allege the Brit singer copied “the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping” of Gaye’s 1973 classic ‘Let’s Get It On’.
According to TMZ, the claim was filed by a company called Structured Asset Sales - which owns one-third of the copyright of Gaye’s song.