Tis the season for lawsuits! Ed Sheeran is getting sued. As if anyone could look at that face and think I want to cause you some strife. But apparently someone can. Last year, Sheeran’s “Photograph” was the song we couldn’t put away. It shortened my normal list of 12 songs in rotation to just 5 because I listened to it so much I didn’t reach for other songs. But it’s now party to a $20 million lawsuit citing a “verbatim, note-for-note copying” from songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard.
The suing songwriters, Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, along with their publishing company HaloSongs, say Sheeran’s “Photograph” derives from their 2009 work, “Amazing,” which was recorded and released as a single by Matt Cardle, the winner of the 2010 season of the television competition show The X Factor.
The songwriters will be represented by Richard Busch who won Mavin Gaye’s family the “Blurred Lines” case. This all looks like very bad news for Sheeran. Billboard reports:
If the credits of the plaintiffs going to potential access nor the bona fides of their attorney (who also prevailed in a sampling case on behalf of Madonna last week) don’t sufficiently impress, there’s also the complaint itself adorned with comparisons of chord progressions and musical notation of the two songs.
It’s not looking good for Ed here.
The profits of the defendants are estimated to exceed $20 million, and the plaintiffs are also seeking statutory damages and either an injunction or a running royalty.
If they are able to get their claim to it, it would be their most profitable song yet. The songs are different… right? Poor Ed.