[Tumblewood]

The two passages are not, in my opinion, similar enough to insinuate copyright infringement. The only similarities are the general melodic contour and some (not all) of the chords. Even though the overall shape of the melodies is similar, they do have many differences, to the point where I would not say it is 'copied'. The chord progression under them is different, but most clearly the groove and delivery are not at all alike between the two pieces. Even though both Shape of You and No Scrubs are hit songs, I had never noticed the similarity until this. If this standard was enough to find copyright infringement, you could nail every third song on the charts somehow.

[psyc]

I’m a musician, composer, and occasional songwriter. I agree with this. I’d testify in court that this is not plagiarism or infringement in my opinion. Unfortunately people are suggestible. Tell them the melodies are the same, then play them, and people hear them as more similar than they are. It reminds me of that illusion where you play muttered speech with a caption and people “hear” the words in the caption.