Ed Sheeran accused of ripping off Aussie song

Ed Sheeran is being sued over plagiarism claims. Photo / Supplied

Superstar singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has been hit with another plagiarism lawsuit — this time, from a pair of Australian songwriters.

Sheeran, who frequently pens hits for other singers as well as releasing his own top-selling material, is listed as a co-writer for country couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's duet The Rest Of Our Life.

According to a suit filed by Australian songwriters Sean Carey and Beau Golden, the song is "blatant copying" of their 2014 song When I Found You, which was performed by Aussie country singer Jasmine Rae.

"The copying is, in many instances, verbatim, note-for-note copying of original elements of the song, and is obvious to the ordinary observer," the complaint reads.

Listen to The Rest Of Our Life:

And When I Found You:

And in the wake of the lawsuit, one canny YouTuber has layered the songs on top of each other in one clip:

Sheeran's co-writers, Johnny McDaid, Steve Mac and Amy Wadge, are also named in the lawsuit, which is seeking $6.3 million in damages along with an injunction for the song to be permanently blocked.

This isn't the first time Sheeran's faced accusations of plagiarism. In 2016, the family of music legend Marvin Gaye claimed Sheeran copied the "heart" of Gaye's classic Let's Get It On and repeated it continuously throughout his hit Thinking Out Loud.

The same year, Sheeran settled a $25 million lawsuit filed by two songwriters who claimed his hit Photograph was a rip-off of a single released by UK X Factor winner Matt Cardle.