Ed Sheeran has released his new album Subtract, just hours after winning his latest copyright lawsuit.
A Manhattan jury found on Thursday 4 May that the British singer-songwriter did not plagiarise Marvin Gaye’s 1973 song “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 single “Thinking Out Loud”.
Sheeran had been sued by the heirs of Ed Townsend, the songwriter who composed the slow jam classic with Gaye.
They accused Sheeran’s song of copying the anthem’s harmonic progressions as well as melodic and rhythmic elements without permission.
In a defiant statement after the verdict, Sheeran said he would not “allow myself to be a piggy bank”.
The lawsuit was initially filed in 2017, but took six years to finally reach a Manhattan federal court.
Sheeran vehemently denied plagiarising “Let’s Get It On”. His lawyers argued that the song used common constructions found in many pop tracks.
He told the court earlier this week that, should he lose, he planned on quitting music.
