Ed Sheeran has won a US court case after being accused of copying a Marvin Gaye song for his hit Thinking Out Loud. Sheeran was hit with a copyright lawsuit which alleged he had plagiarised Gaye's track Let's Get It On.
The British musician was taken to court by the family of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic. They claimed that Sheeran’s 2014 song, written with collaborator Amy Wadge, bore “striking similarities” and “overt common elements” to Let’s Get It On.
Following a trial in New York, jurors found he had not infringed on the family’s copyright interest in Gaye’s song. The proceedings included several live singing performances by Sheeran.
Speaking outside court, Sheeran said: “I’m obviously very happy with the outcome of this case and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job after all. But at the same time I am absolutely frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”
He added: “If the jury had decided this matter the other way we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters. We need to be able to write our original music and engage in independent creativity without worrying at every step on the way that said creativity will be wrongly called into question.”
Townsend’s family brought the case against Sheeran, his label Warner Music Group, and his music publisher Sony Music Publishing, in 2017. Their original complaint claimed that Sheeran had infringed on their interest in Gaye’s song by copying its “harmonic progressions, melodic and rhythmic elements” – which they described as the “heart” of the track.
“The Defendants copied the ‘heart’ of Let‘s (Get It On) and repeated it continuously throughout Thinking (Out Loud),” their claim stated, adding that it had been done “without consent, credit or compensation”.
“As a result, members of the public have been deceived and/or confused into thinking that Thinking (Out Loud) is the independent creation of the defendants.”
The complaint added the conduct, which had resulted in “illegal revenues”, had been “knowing and wilful”. The family requested a preliminary and permanent injunction against any future recording, distribution or public performance of Thinking Out Loud.
During the trial Ben Crump, representing the Townsend family, had said the case was about “giving credit where credit is due”. The verdict in the US trial follows a similar but separate copyright case that Sheeran faced in London last year over his 2017 hit Shape Of You.
