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12 November 2018Copyright

Ed Sheeran settles $5m copyright claim

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have settled a copyright claim with two Australian songwriters.

In January, Sean Carey and Beau Golden sued the three singers, claiming that the song “ The Rest Of Our Life”, the title track of McGraw’s and Hill’s duets album, infringes a song owned by the Australian duo.

Sheeran co-wrote “The Rest of Our Life” with the country duo.

All parties have agreed in principle to settle the case and have it dismissed in 30 days if all issues are resolved.

On Friday, November 9, District Judge Paul Oetken ordered the dismissal of the action without costs and without prejudice to restoring the action if either side makes an application to restore the claim within 30 days.

In a lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in January, Carey and Golden alleged that the three had undertaken “blatant copying” of their song “ When I Found You”.

Written in 2014 by Australian songwriters Carey, Golden, and Jasmine Rae (who is not a plaintiff), the song had reached over 150,000 streams on Spotify at the time of the suit’s filing, according to the plaintiffs.

“The copying is, in many instances, verbatim, note-for-note copying of important and original elements of the song, and is obvious to the ordinary observer,” said the pair.

The song’s other co-writers and Sony Music Entertainment, the company that released “The Rest Of Our Life”, were also named as defendants.

Carey and Golden claimed that Sony Music Entertainment knew the copying had occurred but did nothing to prevent it and didn’t alert the pair.

They went on to allege that “it very well may have been an agent of Sony Music Entertainment who provided the other defendants” with access to their song.

Alternatively, Carey and Golden suggested that the track “When I Found You” was being played frequently on the radio when Sheeran was touring across Australia.

The plaintiffs were seeking at least $5 million in damages, injunctive relief, and royalties if injunctive relief was not appropriate.

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