{"id":1577,"date":"2016-10-12T21:33:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T01:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2023-07-25T12:00:07","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T16:00:07","slug":"ed-sheerans-photograph-not-worth-ten-thousand-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2016\/10\/ed-sheerans-photograph-not-worth-ten-thousand-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran\u2019s \u201cPhotograph\u201d Not Worth Ten Thousand Words?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ed-sheeran\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Irish superstar Ed Sheeran and his song writing team were recently hit with a $20 million copyright infringement lawsuit alleging that Sheeran\u2019s hit song \u201cPhotograph\u201d is a \u201cnote-for-note copying\u201d of Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard\u2019s 2009 song \u201cAmazing.\u201d According to the Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, instead of disputing the technical musical issues of whether there was infringement, Sheeran\u2019s lawyers are arguing that the court ought to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs\u2019 complaint is excessively wordy and unclear, thereby violating Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure<\/a>. The heart\u00a0of the issue is the plaintiffs\u2019 sprawling 44-page complaint against Sheeran and ten other defendants that elaborately and, presumably excessively, details the similarities between the two songs and includes musical notation. Sheeran\u2019s lawyers have labeled the complaint \u201cprolix and repetitive,\u201d consisting of \u201cbreathtakingly long paragraphs\u201d and \u201cargumentative allegations made mostly on information and belief,\u201d and thus assert that they should not be required to assume the arduous task of answering such an improper pleading. Furthermore, the defense argues that the plaintiffs have failed to direct specific allegations toward each defendant and have instead simply lumped all the defendants together in \u201csweeping, generalized allegations,\u201d making it impossible for the defendants to respond. The case is currently pending before a California federal judge and Sheeran\u2019s legal team hopes to dismiss the complaint for improper structure, thus ending this multi-million-dollar suit before it even begins.<\/p>\n

Prudence Ng is an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2019).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Irish superstar Ed Sheeran and his song writing team were recently hit with a $20 million copyright infringement lawsuit alleging that Sheeran\u2019s hit song \u201cPhotograph\u201d is a \u201cnote-for-note copying\u201d of Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard\u2019s 2009 song \u201cAmazing.\u201d According to the Hollywood Reporter, instead of disputing the technical musical issues of whether there was infringement, 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