Ed Sheeran has reached a £16m plagiarism lawsuit settlement for his song Photograph……Or was it his song? Apparently not!!

Ed Sheeran was accused of copying “note-for-note” from a song called Amazing, released by the X Facor winner Matt Cardle five years ago. Songwriters Thomas Leonard and Martin Harrington sued Ed Sheeran, accusing him of “unabashedly taking credit” for their work.

The songwriters claimed the chorus of Photograph and Amazing shared 39 identical notes and that the similarities were “instantly recognisable to the ordinary observer”. “This copying is, in many instances, verbatim, note-for-note copying, [and] makes up nearly one half of Photograph,” they said in a complaint lodged in the US in July.

Photograph, released from Ed Sheeran’s album X, reached No 15 in the UK singles chart. Its video has more than 300m views on YouTube. Matt Cardle’s song Amazing, meanwhile, peaked at No 84 in the UK in 2012.

Harrington, who has written hits for Kylie Minogue, 5ive and Emma Bunton, sued along with Leonard for damages in excess of £16m. They said Ed Sheeran and his songwriting partner, Johnny McDaid from Snow Patrol, had “copied and exploited, without authorisation or credit … on a breathtaking scale”. Lawyers for Ed Sheeran initially said the lawsuit made “scandalous allegations” and argued that it was “too complicated”.

Check out the videos above. You decide whether Ed Sheeran is guilty of plagiarism…..