Ed Sheeran was ruled not guilty of copyright infringement by a jury, which determined that he did not plagiarise elements of Marvin Gaye’s soul classic Let’s Get On.
The unanimous verdict was arrived on the second day of deliberations, which was Thursday.
As the New York jury answered affirmatively to the sole question of whether Sheeran proved he did not infringe upon the copyright, the singer momentarily covered his face with his hands before standing and hugging his attorney.
The family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the 1973 hit Let’s Get It On with Marvin Gaye, accused Sheeran of plagiarising the song in his hit single Thinking Out Loud. The lawsuit alleged that Sheeran, 32, and his co-writer, Amy Wadge, plagiarised the iconic four-chord sequence of the song.
At one point during the trial, Sheeran played an acoustic guitar for the jury while explaining that Wadge created the song’s opening chord progression.
Earlier in the trial, which began on April 25, attorneys for the Townsend heirs presented a concert video of a live mashup performance in which Sheeran sang both songs as “the smoking gun” proving Sheeran plagiarised the song. Ben Crump, a counsel for Townsend, described the performance as “a confession” of plagiarism.
During his initial testimony last week, Sheeran denied that the video constitutes evidence and stated that it is “quite simple to weave in and out of songs” if they are in the same key.
Sheeran stated that he would be an imbecile to plagiarise on stage in front of 20,000 people, stating, “I’d be a fool to do that.” “Most pop songs can fit over the majority of pop songs.”
The 2014 release of Sheeran’s song was a success, earning the Grammy for song of the year. His attorneys argued that the songs shared a similar, unprotected chord progression that was readily accessible to all songwriters.
Sheeran was asked by his attorney, Ilene Farkas, what he would do if he lost the lawsuit while on the stand.
Sheeran’s response was straightforward: “If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping.”
The singer described the lawsuit as “really insulting.”
He stated to the jury, “I work very hard to be where I am.”
This trial occurs a year after Sheeran’s victory in a comparable copyright case regarding his biggest hit, Shape of You. Sheeran stated at the time that the litigation was “extremely detrimental to the songwriting industry.”
Earlier in 2017, Sheeran settled out of court allegations that his song Photograph was strikingly similar to the song Amazing by Matt Cardle. Since then, he has stated that he regrets the settlement because it opened the “floodgates” for additional spurious copyright claims.
