UNITED STATES: A New York jury declared on Thursday that Ed Sheeran wasn’t infringing on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” copyright when he wrote his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud”, bringing an end to a prolonged legal spat that the music industry previously expressed worries might deter musicians.
Ed Sheeran states, “I’m very happy with the outcome of the case, and it looks like I’m not having to retire from my day job after all.”
Sheeran further added that, “At the same time, I’m unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”
The British pop star, who testified in his personal defence and was present for the entirety of the two-week trial in New York, was indicted for ripping off the “harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic” elements of Gaye’s 1973 song without paying royalties to the artists’ estates.
The composition, according to Sheeran’s lawyers, had similar “building rocks” that also incorporated a progression in chord that was specific, but they also posed the view that was embraced by many other pop songs.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers played a fan-shot clip from a Zurich event in 2014, when Sheeran combined his song with ‘Let’s Get It On’, co-written by the late Ed Townsend, who also contributed to Gaye’s smash.
Sheeran said in court that he and “Thinking Out Loud” co-composer Amy Wadge were collaborating on the song over a span of a number of days in Suffolk. He added that rather than Gaye’s songs, his entourage started recognising similarities between the lyrics and Van Morrison’s songs immediately.
Nick Eziefula, a music and copyright lawyer at Simkins, said that this incident will not establish a “direct legal precedent” but added that “the outcome will be reassuring to many within the music industry”.
Sheeran received a separate copyright case that included another of his songs, “Shape of You,” last year.
Gaye’s property won a case contrary to Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams in 2015, claiming that the musicians had violated the copyright of a different track, “Got to Give it Up,” with their hit “Blurred Lines.”
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