Following a legal victory in his Shape Of You copyright trial, Ed Sheeran has shared a candid message, highlighting that the increase of baseless claims against artists is “really damaging to the songwriting industry”.

The trial played out in London’s High Court in recent weeks, with Sheeran and co-writers Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol) and Steve Mac accused of plagiarising Sami Chokri’s 2015 song Oh Why.

A judge has this week ruled that Sheeran and co did not rip part of Oh Why for Shape Of You, and while the UK hitmaker was "obviously happy with the result”, it seems the victory was bittersweet.

“I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court – even if there's no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said.

"It's really damaging to the songwriting industry. There are only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music.

"Coincidences are bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released on Spotify every single day. That's 22 million songs a year – and there are only 12 notes that are available.

"I don't want to take anything away from the pain and hurt suffered from both sides of this case, but I just want to say I'm not an entity, I'm not a corporation. I'm a human being, I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm a son.

"Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience, and I hope with this ruling it means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided. This really does have to end.”

Ed Sheeran will return to Australia next year for a huge stadium tour, performing in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth across February and March of 2023.