Ed Sheeran slams Marvin Gaye lawsuit after huge win

A jury has handed down its decision on whether the Thinking Out Loud singer plagiarised the late Marvin Gaye.

British musician Ed Sheeran said he was “very happy” he won’t have to “retire from my day job” after a US court ruled he did not plagiarise Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On when composing his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud.

The 32-year-old pop phenom added he was “unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this” even make it to court.

“I’m just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy. I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake,” he said outside the court.

Sheeran revealed he missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland as he sat through the “bogus” and “dangerous” lawsuit that claimed he stole key elements for his hit song.

Ed Sheeran hugged his lawyers after winning the “bogus” copyright claim. Picture: AFP

“These cords are common building blocks which were used to create music long before Let’s Get it On was written. Will be used to make music long after we are all gone,” Sheeran said.

“They in a songwriter’s alphabet. Our toolkit. And should be there for all of us to use. No one owns them. Or the way they are played. In the same way nobody owns the colour blue.”

Sheeran stood up and hugged his team after jurors ruled that he “independently” created his song.

The lawsuit was filed by heirs of Gaye co-writer Ed Townsend, who alleged that harmonic progressions and rhythmic elements of Sheeran’s song were lifted from the classic made famous by Gaye without permission.

Sheeran said he missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland to be in court for the case. Picture: AFP

The heirs sought a share of the profits from Sheeran’s song. Sheeran, 32, played a number of songs from the witness stand as he gave evidence in the civil trial.

The English musician testified that he writes most of his songs in a day, and noted that he co-wrote “Thinking Out Loud” with singer-songwriter Amy Wadge, a regular partner.

The two wrote “Thinking Out Loud” at Sheeran’s home in February 2014, he said.

“We sat guitar to guitar,” Sheeran said. “We wrote together quite a lot.”

The jurors were tasked with deciding if Sheeran’s song and Gaye’s classic are substantially similar and if their common elements are protected by copyright law.

Townsend’s family had pointed out that the group Boyz II Men has performed mash-ups of the two songs, and that Sheeran has blended the songs together on stage as well.

The British muso told media he was “very happy” with the result. Picture: AFP

Sheeran said he is just a guy that writes songs. Picture: AFP

Sheeran’s team contested the allegations, saying “there are dozens if not hundreds of songs that predate and postdate” Gaye’s song, “utilizing the same or similar chord progression.”

A musicologist retained by the defence says in court documents that the four-chord sequence was used in a number of songs before Gaye’s hit came out in 1973.

Industry members closely followed the copyright lawsuit as it could have set precedent for protections on songwriters’ creations and open the door to legal challenges elsewhere.

It was the second trial in a year for Sheeran, who successfully testified at a London court last April in a case centred around his song “Shape Of You,” saying that lawsuit was emblematic of copyright litigation going too far. The judge ruled in his favour.

Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” shot up America’s Billboard Hot 100 charts when it was released, and won Sheeran a Song of the Year prize at the Grammys in 2016.

There have been a flood of such copyright trials in recent years, notably in 2016 when Gaye’s family — who is not part of the New York lawsuit against Sheeran — successfully sued the artists Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I. over similarities between the song “Blurred Lines” and Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up.”

Originally published as Ed Sheeran slams Marvin Gaye lawsuit after huge win