Ed Sheeran’s lawyers apply to dismiss copyright suit

Lawyers representing Ed Sheeran in the $20 million Photograph copyright case are applying in a California court to have it dismissed.

They say copyright infringement allegations are “unsupported by a single fact”, and that the suit is too “bulky” and doesn’t identify how each of the eleven defendants named are involved.

In July, songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, and their publishing company HaloSongs, claimed that the Sheeran song was “verbatim, note-for-note copying” of their 2009 song Amazing.

Amazing was released as a single by Matt Cardle, the winner of the 2010 season of The X Factor UK. It reached #84 in the UK chart and had over 1 million YouTube views,

Photograph has sold 3.5 million units, according to court documents. Its music video had 208 million YouTube views.

Eleven parties were named in the case. These included Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid, a co-writer on Photograph, and various divisions of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Warner Music Group and its subsidiary, Atlantic Recording Corporation.

Harrington and Leonard are represented by Richard Busch, who successfully represented the Marvin Gaye family in the lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over Blurred Lines and won them $7.4 million (that figure is currently being appealed).

Aside from damages of $20 million, Harrington and Leonard also want royalties from Photograph.

Their documents included musical note comparison and chord breakdowns of the two songs. The two writers claimed the chorus of Photograph shares 39 identical notes with their song. These similarities, they insisted, are “instantly recognisable to the ordinary observer.”

The lawsuit added: “Given the striking similarity between the chorus of Amazing and Photograph, (the) defendants knew when writing, publishing, recording, releasing, and distributing Photograph that they were infringing on a pre-existing musical composition.

“The conduct of (the) defendants has been wilful from the inception of the creation of Photograph. The copying of Amazing by Photograph is breathtaking in its deliberateness, magnitude, and hubris.”

However Sheeran’s team, Michael Niborski and Ilene Farkas at Pryor Cashman, reject the accusations as “sweeping” generalisations and urged the case be dropped.

In court documents tendered, the team state, “Defying the most fundamental pleading requirement of providing short, concise and plain statements, the First Amended Complaint consists of 44 sprawling pages of prolix, repetitive, argumentative and scandalous allegations, made mostly on ’information and belief.

“It makes sweeping, generalized allegations — in 156 paragraphs, some of which go on for pages and contain upwards of 25 or 30 different sentences — against eleven distinct Defendants.”

Sheeran’s lawyers also want a clearer picture provided of the role each of them allegedly played.

“Each Defendant is entitled to have allegations that are directed at it or him. Simply lumping Defendants together is not proper.”

Nor should the eleven “be put to the task and expense of having to draft responses to this massively improper pleading”

Harrington is best known in Australia for co-writing Kylie Minogue’s Love At First Sight which was in 2002 nominated for a Grammy and an Ivor Novello.

He’s also written for Celine Dion, Natalie Imbruglia, Atomic Kitten, Emma Bunton and 5ive.

Tom Leonard’s songs have been recorded by Backstreet Boys, Zero 7 and Echosmith.

Sheeran is also being sued by the heirs of Gaye’s Let’s Get It On songwriting partner Ed Townsend for allegedly ripping off the melody, harmony and rhythm compositions from the 1973 hit for his chart-topping Thinking Out Loud.