- British singer Ed Sheeran has won a lawsuit in New York for alleged copyright infringement.
- After several hours of deliberations, a jury in New York unanimously found that Sheeran did not copy his song “Thinking Out Loud” from the song “Let’s Get It On”.
- The 32-year-old musician was relieved after the verdict, but also contrite.
“Of course I’m very pleased with the outcome of the case,” Sheeran said after the verdict outside the courthouse. “But at the same time, I’m incredibly frustrated that baseless claims like these are allowed to go to court.” For eight years, he and the plaintiffs argued over two songs with dramatically different lyrics and melodies. The underlying four chords would be used every day by songwriters around the world.
The heirs of US musician Ed Townsend, who died in 2003, accused Sheeran of copyright infringement. Townsend had released the 1973 song “Let’s Get It On” with Marvin Gaye.
Sheeran partially defended himself in the process and denied the allegations. “Thinking Out Loud” is based on chords and rhythms that are “basic building blocks of music” and that nobody can own. Sheeran cited the similarity between The Beatles’ “Let It Be” and Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”.
That’s another reason why Sheeran was contrite after the verdict: “It’s devastating to be accused of stealing someone else’s song when we put so much work into our livelihood.” He will never be a “piggy bank” that people can shake to get money. He also missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland because of the process. “I’ll never get that time back.”
The process had previously been postponed several times. Like some of his colleagues, such as Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, Sheeran has repeatedly faced allegations of copyright infringement in recent years.
In their evidence, the plaintiffs’ lawyers presented a mash-up performed by Sheeran in 2014: In it, the musician combined his song “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”. This fact clearly proves the copying, so the argument goes.
Sheeran reacted with incomprehension: “If I had done what you accuse me of, I would be an idiot to put myself on stage in front of 20,000 people and do it.”