Ed Sheeran, one of the music industry’s most extensive global hitmakers, has emerged victorious in one of the highest-profile copyright cases in years. On Thursday, a federal jury ruled that Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.” This case took place over two weeks in a downtown Manhattan courtroom.
Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Case
Ed Sheeran, one of the music industry’s most extensive global hitmakers, has won the highest-profile copyright case in years. A federal jury has ruled that Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.”
The case, filed in 2017, had been delayed partly by the coronavirus pandemic. It involved questions of originality in pop music that have been tested in recent cases, leading to concerns among musicians that the line between inspiration and plagiarism is being muddied.
The plaintiffs argued that even if elements like chords may not be under copyright individually, their “selection and arrangement” on “Let’s Get It On” was original and distinctive enough to warrant protection. Sheeran’s defense responded that the plaintiff’s case did not pass the high legal bar required for such protection.
Ed Sheeran’s triumph in copyright case
During the proceedings, Sheeran testified – often with a guitar in hand – that “Thinking Out Loud” had been created independently one evening with his friend and longtime collaborator Amy Wadge. The decades-long inspired the song Love that he and Wadge observed among elders in their families.
The two tracks share a similar syncopated chord pattern that the family of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer, called the “heart” of “Let’s Get It On.” Sheeran and his lawyers never denied that the chords in the two songs are similar but called them commonplace musical building blocks that have turned up in dozens of other songs. Check, Jessica Alba Turns Heads During NBA Playoffs Game 2.
Sheeran’s victory a win for music creators in copyright disputes
After deliberating for around three hours, the jury found that Sheeran had created his song independently. Hearing the verdict, Sheeran said, “I am pleased with the case outcome. At the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court.”
In 2015, a decision that shook the music industry was made when American singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ song “Blurred Lines” (2013) was found to have infringed Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” (1977). However, five years later, the tide turned when English rock
