The judgment in Ed Sheeran’s court case has been reached after the musician was charged with plagiarism for his 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud.”
Sheeran won the lawsuit when a Manhattan jury determined that he did not plagiarize Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
The heirs of Ed Townsend, the composer who wrote Marvin Gaye’s legendary 1973 hit, sued Sheeran.
They accused the singer and composer of plagiarizing the song’s harmonic progressions, as well as melodic and rhythmic aspects, without first obtaining permission.
This complaint against Sheeran was filed in 2017, and it has taken six years for the case to be heard in court.
Sheeran rejected plagiarizing the song, stating that many songs wind up having similar components without any copying occurring.
His attorneys claim that the matter should never have gone to court in the first place.
There was a lot on the line here since Sheeran had said that if he was found guilty of plagiarizing the song, he would leave the music profession, as he was convinced that he did not commit plagiarism.
During the trial, Sheeran sang and played his guitar in court as part of his defense, attempting to demonstrate that there was no plagiarism.
He was also left “so distraught” after having to skip his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland owing to the court case when Kathryn Townsend Gryphon, the daughter of Ed Townsend, claimed there are ‘strong similarities’ between Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’.
The artist has performed a mix of the two songs at performances, which was mentioned throughout the trial and regarded as a ‘smoking gun’ by plaintiffs’ lawyer Ben Crump.
Sheeran said that he would have had to be a complete idiot to plagiarize a song and then perform a mashup of it on a stage in front of 20,000 individuals.
The artist is also being sued in the same court for copyright infringement by investment banker David Pullman, who owns a third of ‘Let’s Get It On,’ and a judge has determined that the case will go to trial.
