Ed Sheeran has won a copyright battle in the United Kingdom over his chart-topping 2017 hit "Shape of You," after a judge ruled on Wednesday (April 6) that the singer did not plagiarize the song from a lesser-known track.The judge ruled that Sheeran's smash hit, which spent 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, did not infringe on a 2015 song called "Oh Why" by Sami Chokri, also known as Sami Switch, and music producer Ross O'Donoghue.

In a video released on social media, Sheeran instantly praised the decision while blasting "baseless" lawsuits and the harm they're causing the music business.Chokri and O'Donoghue's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.Last month, Sheeran faced an 11-day trial in London, during which he repeatedly testified and refuted charges that he was a "magpie" who plagiarized from other composers. From the witness stand, the celebrity also sang for a few minutes.

Judge Antony Zacaroli decided that there was no proof that Sheeran plagiarized "Oh Why" knowingly or "subconsciously" while writing "Shape of You." "While there are parallels," he noted, "there are also big variances" between the two tunes. The judge also dismissed Chokri and O'Donoghue's contention that the speed with which Sheeran wrote his hit implied he had plagiarized it from an earlier song.

Zacaroli wrote, "I reject that submission." "The obvious image received from all those who deal with him in songwriting is that he has a special capacity to come up with lyrical and melodic ideas and combine them to make memorable songs at breakneck speed," says one of his collaborators.

Sheeran has been the subject of several copyright cases throughout the years. He resolved a complaint in the United States in 2017 over Tim McGraw's "The Rest of Our Life," which he co-wrote, and another one in 2018 for his song "Photograph." He now faces a federal trial in New York for charges that he plagiarized Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" for his song "Thinking Out Loud."