Ed Sheeran has an unlikely ally in the $20 million copyright lawsuit against him over the song “Photograph.”
“The X Factor” winner Matt Cardle, whose song “Amazing” Sheeran is accused of stealing, jumped to Sheeran’s defense on Thursday, calling him a “genius.”
“Please read news articles closely. This is not my lawsuit,” Cardle wrote on Twitter. “I think @edsheeran is a genius & 100% deserves all his success.”
Cardle’s collaborators on “Amazing” would beg to differ. On Wednesday, songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard slapped Sheeran with a $20 million lawsuit, claiming that his hit “Photograph” infringes on their 2009 tune “Amazing.”
According to the suit, the chorus and other elements of “Amazing” were later incorporated into a song of the same title on Cardle’s debut studio album “Letters.” That version is credited to Harrington, Leonard and Cardle, as well as two others.
The suit claims that the infringement took place “on a breathtaking scale,” including “verbatim, note-for-note copying.” According to the suit, the alleged infringement makes up “nearly one half of ‘Photograph.’”
A spokesman for Sheeran has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment on the suit.
Harrington and Leonard’s lawyers in the suit include Richard Busch, who represented the family of Marvin Gaye in the now-infamous “Blurred Lines” trial, which led to a jaw-dropping verdict in excess of $7 million, a sum that was later reduced.
Please read news articles closely. This is not my lawsuit. I think @edsheeran is a genius & 100% deserves all his success ????????❤️ X
— Matt Cardle (@mattcardle) June 9, 2016