Ed Sheeran Sued For ‘Copying’ X Factor Winner’s Song

London: English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is facing a $20 million lawsuit for allegedly copying a song released by X Factor UK season seven’s winner Matt Cradle.

The songwriters behind Cardle’s 2011 single Amazing claim that Sheeran “exploited” their work on a “breathtaking scale” for his 2015 hit Photograph.

The copyright infringement lawsuit, filed in California by Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, alleges that Photograph has the same musical composition as Amazing, which in some instances amounts to “note-for-note copying”.

Photograph has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide and features prominently in romantic drama movie Me Before You, which was released last week, according to the lawsuit. It has also had a whopping 208 million YouTube views.

Amazing, on the other hand, reached No 84 in the UK charts and had just one million YouTube hits.

Songwriters of Amazing Tom Leonard and Martin Harrington are seeking a jury trial, damages in excess of $20m and royalties from the song.

Other named defendants include Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid, credited as a co-writer of Photograph, units of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Warner Music Group and its subsidiary, Atlantic Recording Corporation.

According to the lawsuit, Photograph shares 39 identical notes with Amazing. It also points to a similarity of “words, vocal style, vocal melody, melody, and rhythm”.

Grammy-winning Sheeran, 25 is one of the UK’s top-selling artists. He has written and co-written tracks for artists such as One Direction, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.

Cradle, 33, won the seventh season of X Factor UK — the season where One Direction was formed and where they came in third place.