Ed Sheeran has won his copyright trial over similarities between his hit single Thinking Out Loud and Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.
The singer was sued by the heirs of Ed Townsend, who wrote the 1973 track, and the copyright infringement trial kicked off in Manhattan, New York last week.
They alleged Ed’s song has “striking similarities” to Let’s Get It On, and “overt common elements”.
Despite their claims, a New York jury decided on Thursday that Ed did not infringe copyright of Let’s Get It On.
The singer, who missed his Irish grandmother’s funeral to attend the trial, said he was “very happy” to have won his case.
Ed also joked he did not have to “retire” from his day job after all, after he previously said he would quit music if he lost the trial.Â
Speaking outside court, the 32-year-old also said he was “frustrated baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all”.
“We’ve spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters every day, all over the world,” he said.
“These chords are common building blocks which were used to create music long before Let’s Get It On was written.”
During the trial, Ed and the song’s co-writer Amy Wadge gave evidence in court, telling jurors they did not copy Let’s Get It On.
