Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Infringement Trial
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Ed Sheeran is one of the most popular and successful musicians of our time. He has won numerous awards and accolades for his music, including multiple Grammys. However, he has also been involved in several court cases over the years, including a recent copyright infringement trial.
The Trial
In May 2023, Sheeran won a copyright infringement trial in which he was accused of cribbing from Marvin Gaye’s 1973 song Let’s Get It On for his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud . The suit was originally filed in 2017 by the descendants of Gaye’s co-writer, Ed Townsend. The three plaintiffs alleged that Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge stole “the heart” of the soul classic by using “melodic, harmonic and rhythmic compositions” that are “substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition” of the song .
Sheeran’s Defense
The two-week trial in New York offered moments of levity as well as frustration for the mega-star. Sheeran pulled out a guitar several times, appeared to threaten the end of his career if he lost and expressed disdain for a case that, as one entertainment lawyer put it to the Guardian, had “a whiff of the US celebrity lawsuit about it” .
Sheeran’s defense rested on the ubiquity of certain musical standards and chord progressions, which are not owned by a single artist. In the early days of the trial, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ben Crump, played a video of Sheeran transitioning seamlessly between Thinking Out Loud and Let’s Get It On during a concert in Zurich, arguing that it amounted to a confession. “Most pop songs can fit over most pop songs … if I had done what you’re accusing me of doing, I’d be a quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that,” Sheeran replied .
Sheeran’s Inspiration
In over an hour of testimony, Sheeran explained how he wrote Thinking Out Loud with his friend and co-writer, Wadge, at his home in England in 2014. “I draw inspiration from a lot from things in my life and family,” he said, explaining how the song was inspired by the love he witnessed between his grandparents. Sheeran demonstrated how his original line, “singing out now”, morphed into the song’s eventual title: “When I write vocal melodies, it’s like phonetics,” he said. He then picked up a guitar from behind the witness stand, played the chord progression to the song and sang the opening line: “When your legs don’t work like they used to before” .
Conclusion
In conclusion, Ed Sheeran has won his copyright infringement trial, in which he fought allegations that the British singer cribbed from Marvin Gaye’s 1973 song Let’s Get It On for his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud. The trial offered moments of levity as well as frustration for the mega-star, who is one of the most-streamed artists of the 2010s. Sheeran’s defense rested on the ubiquity of certain musical standards and chord progressions, which are not owned by a single artist. The plaintiffs’ lawyer played a video of Sheeran transitioning seamlessly between Thinking Out Loud and Let’s Get It On during a concert in Zurich, arguing that it amounted to a confession. Sheeran replied that most pop songs can fit over most pop songs .
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