British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has found himself caught up in a cross-border copyright dispute over a song he wrote for American singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
The country and western duo – and Mr Sheeran himself – have found themselves facing legal action over the song ‘The Rest of Our Life’, which the British-born star wrote.
Mr McGraw and Ms Hill insist that the song was lawfully licensed from Mr Sheeran’s “original composition,” but two Australian musicians seem to think differently.
Australian songwriter Mr Sean Carey and fellow keyboard player and producer Mr Beau Golden have reportedly sued the trio amid concerns that ‘The Rest of Our Life’ contains similarities to ‘When I Found You’, a hit they penned for Australian star Jasmine Rae back in 2014.
A report in the Daily Mail suggests that Mr Sheeran, who was first accused of copying the song in January, has since filed legal documents alleging that the lawsuit is without merit.
In these documents, Mr Sheeran described ‘The Rest of Our Life’ as an “originally and independently created musical composition” and said that Mr Carey and Mr Golden’s claim was “baseless.”
Nevertheless, the Australian duo insist that “the copying is, in many instances, verbatim, note-for-note copying of original elements of [their] song.”
On top of this, the media has been keen to point out that this is now the fourth time the British singer-songwriter has been accused of copying the songs of other artists, while a report in TMZ suggests that if Mr Sheeran is found guilty of copying Mr Carey and Mr Golden’s track, only he himself will be held liable.
Mr McGraw and Ms Hill are standing by Mr Sheeran, insisting that his song does not infringe any copyright laws.