Ed Sheeran speaks out after winning copyright battle over claims he 'ripped off' music

Ed Sheeran hopes his copyright lawsuit victory will end "baseless" claims being brought against songwriters.

The 31-year-old pop star was taken to court by grime artist Sami Chokri, who claimed that the melody of his 2017 smash hit Shape of You is "strikingly similar" to that of his 2015 song Oh Why, but a judge has ruled that Ed and his collaborators, Johnny McDaid and Steven McCutcheon, had not plagiarised the earlier track.

And in a video message to fans, the Castle on the Hill singer admitted he thinks plagiarism cases such as the one brought against him are "way too common now" and lamented "a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court".

He added: "Even if there’s no base for the claim, it’s really damaging for the songwriting industry."

Ed insisted such is the volume of music being released every day, there are always going to be similarities with different songs.

He said: "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.

"I don’t want to take anything away from the pain and hurt suffered from both sides of this case, but I just want to say I’m not an entity. I’m not a corporation, I’m a human being, I’m a father, I’m a husband, I’m a son."

The Sing hitmaker insisted there needs to be an "end" to "baseless" plagiarism lawsuits.

He concluded: "Lawsuits, they’re not a pleasant experience. I hope with this ruling, it means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided. This really does have to end.

"Me, Johnny and Steve are very grateful for all the support sent to us by fellow songwriters over the last few weeks. Hopefully, we can all get back to writing songs, rather than having to prove that we can write them.”

Following the ruling, Ed, Johnny and Steven - who is known as Steve Mac - admitted the court battle had taken a toll on their mental health and creativity.

They said: "There was a lot of talk throughout this case about cost. But there is more than just a financial cost.

"There is a cost on creativity. When we are tangled up in lawsuits, we are not making music or playing shows.

"There is a cost on our mental health. The stress this causes on all sides is immense. It affects so many aspects of our everyday lives and the lives of our families and friends.

"We are not corporations. We are not entities. We are human beings. We are songwriters. We do not want to diminish the hurt and pain anyone has suffered through this, and at the same time, we feel it is important to acknowledge that we too have had our own hurts and life struggles throughout the course of this process."