Two Australian musicians have settled a lawsuit with Ed Sheeran, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill for alleged “blatant copying” of a country song.
The lawsuit, launched in the US by ex-Thirsty Merc guitarist Sean Carey and keyboardist-producer Beau Golden, accuses McGraw and Hill’s song ‘The Rest Of Our Life’ (which was co-written by Sheeran) of ripping off Australian artist Jasmine Rae’s song ‘When I Found You’, which was co-written by Carey and Golden.
Filing a lawsuit in a US district this January they accused Sheeran and company of ‘willful copyright infringement’. They even went as far to suggest that label Sony had been implicit in encouraging ‘blatant’ copying.
“The copying is, in many instances, verbatim, note-for-note copying of original elements of the Song, and is obvious to the ordinary observer,” the complaint read.
But now it seems that all the parties have settled the case.
As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, a lawyer representing the Australian writers has released a statement claiming that the formerly feuding parties have ‘in principle’ agreed to bury the hatchet. The matter will be dismissed in 30 days if all ‘final issues’ are resolved.
A letter detailing the settlement was filed on Thursday night with the New York District Court.
Details are a little scarce, but the Australian songwriting team had originally sought compensation to the sum $5 million dollars.
Sheeran has faced similar claims. In 2017 he settled a case over the song ‘Photograph’. Another song, ‘Thinking Out Loud’ is also subject to ongoing litigation on the alleged claim that it’s a rip-off of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’.
